January 19 2007, 11:21

Kyrill hurricane can result in the dramatic reduction of fruit and berry harvest in the European Union countries

According to information provided by European sources, Kyrill hurricane caused the great losses to the agriculture of the European Union. The disaster was on the Western and Central Europe yesterday. The orchardists from Netherlands, Germany and Poland are informing now about the considerably damaged orchards where the branches were broken and some trees were even rooted up. The plantings' flooding is observed in many regions; a considerable acreage of berry cultivation areas is also flooded. Berries can be seriously affected.

To the opinion of Andriy Yarmak, the Deputy Director of the Agricultural Marketing Project, the probability of the low fruit harvest 2007 is constantly increasing in Europe. The abnormally warm winter affected the frost-resistance of the trees and bushes; the hurricane physically damaged the orchards. If cold weather comes in February, the large-scale damage of the fruiting buds of the trees and berry beds is possible, to the opinion of A. Yarmak. So, the fruit production can decrease once again in 2007 in Europe.

These trends mean a great probability of the retaining high prices for fruits and berries in 2007 for the produce business of Ukraine and Russia. Also, it is a bad news for the juice producers who will have to increase the prices for the final products once again: this action will affect the rates of the juice consumption.