56 million euros losses in fruit and wine cultivation

The late frosts of the last 14 days have been noisy Austrian hail insurance With local fruit and wine growers Losses of 56 million euros it causes. The state of Styria was the most affected, with 37 million euros, followed by Lower Austria, with 17 million euros.

“About 50 percent of the fruit-growing area in Styria has been affected, but we expect a generally normal harvest,” he said. Herbert Muster From the Styrian Agriculture Chamber on Friday. It should be warmer again.

Freezing point in Fayez area

“There's been a lot of damage, especially at night from Sunday to Monday,” said Muster, who is in charge of the chamber's apple fruit tips. Temperatures were particularly low in the Vais region of eastern Styria, where most of Styria's fruit growers are located. This is where they do it apples, Which is currently only the size of a marble, 80% of the fruit growing area Out of place.

“The favorable pre-flowering weather ensured strong flowering, which kind of offsets the whole thing,” Moster explained to APA. “Losses in quality are expected in some cases,” he expects. Above all deeper layers Sometimes you experience complete failures, although anti-freezing rain and heating may have prevented anything worse from happening.

Most of the damage occurs in fruit cultivation

The hail insurance company said on Friday that as of Thursday afternoon, late frosts had caused damage worth up to 56 million euros across Austria in two weeks. This has been deleted 44 million on fruit farming, the rest on wine.

The “hotspot” was Styria, where damage amounted to 32 million euros in the fruit sector and 5 million euros in the wine sector. In addition to Lower Austria (17 million), damage worth €2 million was reported in other federal states.

Frost is also expected Friday night. “We were at the limit with temperatures down to minus 2 degrees, where not much was happening,” said a relieved Muster. in the coming days It should get warmer again. Muster hopes that “that's it for this season.”