Extreme weather is causing havoc in Greece and Turkey as well as Bulgaria. Rains have caused flooding, resulting in the deaths of at least seven people. For Greece, Volos and Zagori were hit extremely hard. A couple of fruit exporters have expressed their worries, but the total effect of the disaster is not yet clear, they say.
One of the fruit exporters called around to see if any of the produce was hit hard: “I made some calls this morning to check the situation in the fields. So far, it doesn’t seem that there are any serious issues. The main concern was in Zagori, which is the main apple production area, where they had more than 750mm of rain. However, the apple production is at a higher altitude of 600m+ and therefore apples seem not to be affected so much. The damages started below the 500m threshold. I haven’t hear any issues with kiwis or leafies, neither.”
Another top fruit exporter was especially worried about the apple production, and states infrastructure has taken a huge blow. “There are indeed disastrous consequences of the heavy rainfalls of the last couple of days, especially in Thessaly, Central Greece. There is a certain mountain where all Zagorin apples are grown that was in the centre of all the extreme phenomena, however it’s still too early to tell about the consequences on the fruits cultivated there. One thing is for sure, that the infrastructure in the region is severely damaged.”
Finally, a kiwi exporter from Greece had no idea what the damages were like, as they haven’t been able to check the fields just yet. “We’re very worried about the continuous rainfalls, but we will not know more about the products until we are able to visit the fields.”