Poland’s strawberry, apple and stonefruit exports are all expected to suffer after some of the worst flooding for more than a decade hit central and southern regions of the country.
According to reports, an estimated 400,000ha of agricultural land was estimated by the Polish government to have been damaged by several weeks of flooding, which has been centered around the basins of the rivers Vistula, Oder and Wisla.
At least 20 people people are reported to have been killed by the floods, while tens of thousands more have been forced to evacuate their homes. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was reported as saying that the situation in the River Vistula basin was “much worse” than the country’s last major floods in 1997.
According to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on the events, Polish cherry production is expected to fall by 20 per cent to 150,000 as a result of flood damage, while strawberry volumes are also predicted to slump by 14 per cent.
The USDA anticipates that strawberry export prices will increase by €1,300 per tonne, although higher levels of production in nearby Hungary and Serbia are expected to offset the fall in Polish volumes.
However, the report said that a “sluggish” European market for apples meant that a 12 per cent in Polish apple volumes to an estimated 2.3m tonnes was not expected to be compensated for by higher prices.
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