The extreme rainfall in recent weeks is also causing damage in tree nurseries in Belgium. Tree growers are not always able to get into the fields to grub these weeks, when sales are at a peak.

There is also a drop in demand from end users for whom the soils are too wet to plant trees. "Sales at tree growers have been at most 60 per cent of normal volume over the past few weeks. Much of this is probably going to have to be made up in the spring," AVBS reported.

cartoon: Agnes Karikaturen