RIGA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The losses farmers in Latvia have suffered from this summer's prolonged dry spell and unusual heat amount to 359 million euros (416 million U.S. dollars), the Baltic country's agriculture ministry said in a report handed to the European Commission on Wednesday.
According to the ministry's estimates, additional forage production costs stemming from the prolonged drought this summer have reached 100.5 million euros, 80 percent above the average costs recorded over the past three years.
The ministry also predicts that grain and rapeseed sales this year are likely to fall by an estimated 27 percent from the last three years' average to 137.2 million euros, and that even an increase in grain and rapeseed prices in foreign markets will not make up for the anticipated loss of revenue.
Due to the rainless summer, revenue from fruit, berries, vegetables and potatoes is expected to shrink by 44 percent from the last three-years' average to 28.4 million euros in yet another blow to the Latvian fruit growers who already suffered significant losses from springtime frosts and autumn floods in 2017.
The dry weather conditions increased the fire hazard in Latvia's forests and peatlands, sparking a series of major wildfires that have cost forest owners 92.9 million euros in total, the ministry said in the report.
The ministry's report is based on preliminary estimates, and the drought damage figure is to be updated in the next coming months. The European Commission asked all European Union member states to report on the dry summer's overall impact on agricultural production by the end of August.
