Cyclone Daniel caused prices to rise

A new wave of rising prices threatens households as floods destroy thousands of hectares of arable land. Agricultural producers and farmers imagine in a “black light” what will happen in the coming months.

A new, larger wave of inflation threatens households after untold disasters caused by Cyclone Daniel in the predominantly agricultural prefectures of Karditsa, Larissa, Magnesia, Trikala, Phthiotis and Kozani. There will be shortages of food products grown and produced there, such as butter, milk, eggs, rice, meat, bread, fruits and vegetables.

In the prefecture of Karditsa alone, 400,000 hectares of arable land have turned into a “lake”, about half of the orchards and crop plantations found in the Velventos plain in Kozani have been destroyed, and many production units in the Trikala and Larissa area have been flooded and closed.

“That’s horrible! Shortly before the harvest, about 3-4 million kilograms of peaches and nectarines were destroyed,” says Nikos Koutliambas, President of ASEPOP Velvedou. “It rained for almost 5 days, half of the peaches fell from the trees, and those that remained were hit by hail. But the producers paid all the costs of growing them!” he notes.

The damage is estimated at more than 5 million euros, Mr. Koutliabas emphasizes, noting that ELGA compensates producers 60-61%, not 100%.

The rural areas of Tyrnavos also experience very large disasters after severe weather events: Mr Efthimios Lekkas, Professor of Dynamic Tectonics, Applied Geology and Disaster Management at ECPPA, believes that It will take five years for the lands to become fertile again.

The plant of the leading dairy industry will remain closed for one to two weeks, the head of production noted, adding that the Olympos plant in Larissa is already operating normally without any problems.

In addition to the TYRAS production unit, the La Farm dairy farm at km 6 of Trikala-Pelion was also flooded.

At the same time, consumers are sitting on hot coals in anticipation of price increases expected to follow the storm of Cyclone Daniel. Already, citizens are paying 23.5% more for olive oil compared to last year, according to analytical data ELSTATwhile vegetable prices were 17.6% higher this year in August compared to last year in the same month.

Prices in the category “Mineral water-soft drinks-fruit juices” jumped year-on-year by 14.4%, for other food products by 12.4%, for dairy products and eggs by 11.9%, fruits rose in price by 10.7 %, meat by 9.7%. Significant growth was also recorded for bread and cereals (+6.6%) and fish (6.7%).

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