Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukrainian growers may lose their stonefruit crops for 2nd year in a row
A sharp cold spell in January has negatively affected orchards in mainland Ukraine and Crimea: growers again expect a further decrease in stonefruit production in 2015. According to Fruit-Inform, Crimean growers have traditionally suffered from negative weather conditions the most seriously and forecast a fall of 70-80% in their stonefruit and grape production.
Growers from Kherson Region expect a decrease of 50% in their production with some farms reporting of 90% of their plantations to have been affected. According to farmers from Odessa and Mykolaiv Regions, their production of peaches and nectarines may be 30-40% lower than average over the past 5 years.
At the same time, growers from Zaporizhya Region have reported of minimal losses. Farmers from other southern regions of Ukraine hope that a part of fruit plantations will nevertheless recover after an increase in temperature, and January cold spell's final impact on production will be significantly lower.
It should be noted that frosts have had minimal effect on sweet and sour cherry, plum, apple and pear crops in Ukraine. However, it is still too early to forecast something, as farmers are seriously concerned about a cold spell in spring.