Damage caused to fruit crops in the Tasman region by Wednesday night's hail storms cannot yet be assessed, but growers are optimistic business won't decline as a result. The Insurance Council has received about 20 claims and Chief Executive Tim Grafton said that number is likely to grow, with damage estimated to be in the millions. Apple orchards seemed to be hardest hit. Pipfruit Chief Executive Alan Pollard issued a statement that some Nelson growers had lost entire blocks to hailstones, reported to be the size of 50c pieces. "At this stage, with increased plantings coming on stream and a bumper crop on the trees in unaffected orchards and in New Zealand's other growing regions, we would expect similar national export volumes to last year." Orchards in Nelson, Central Otago and the Hawke's Bay suffered severe hail storms in November last year but Pollard said the experience showed hail-struck crops could still produce export quality crops. That hailstorm, which was described as the worst in living memory, and affected about 40 growers, caused seven crop insurance claims nationally valued at $3.8 million. Hoddy's Orchard managing director Michael Hoddy said last year's damage was worse, but around 40 per cent of his current crop had been badly affected. A spread of growing blocks and breaks in the storm had mitigated its impact, he said. "Hail kind of goes in belts and thank goodness, because if it didn't we wouldn't have anything to salvage. We have some blocks with no damage, but it will create extra work for us. "With the thinning we have to do at this stage it puts a bit more pressure on the handling of the fruit." Hoddy said punctured fruit was the biggest concern, but that this event highlighted the realities of fruit growing and said "there's no use being too mournful about it". "We just have to deal with the hail as we process through the shed." His comments were echoed by Riwaka orchardist Jarrod Fry, who estimated 30 to 40 per cent damage on his apple crop, and said his kiwifruit crop had been demolished. "One of the issues with having a storm this late in the apple process is that most of the apples have been thinned. You don't have the opportunity or the scope to thin the hail off and still get a commercial crop, and that will affect a lot of people." Fry said it would take another week or 10 days to assess the full extent of the damage as delayed bruising becomes apparent. Tasman Bay Berries, the largest boysenberry grower in New Zealand, experienced significant damage on their 16 hectare Paton Rd block. Owner Glen Holland estimated about 50 per cent damage to that block, but had not had time to fully quantify the storm's effect. "As a quick observation there's a reasonable amount of fruit that's going to ripen in the next week that has been damaged. "We'll get a really good idea of how they look once we put them in a tray - or how bad it is." Warnings of thunderstorms and moderate-sized hail for Thursday night brought the risk of botrytis into the equation, Holland said. "Physical damage creates an entry point for mold to spread. The mold feeds on the sugar in the fruit when that entry point is there. "We might have to close up the schedule, harvest in shorter bursts, to keep on top of it." Holland said his other blocks were unaffected and that Christmas orders would go ahead unchanged, although wholesaling hung in the balance. "It's more about if you have to put a stop to local packing for the supermarkets. If we have to stop, that it's a significant impact on our commercial profits for sure. "It will be disappointing if we have to walk away from that high-volume market." Source - http://www.stuff.co.nz