Brussels, 13/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Copa (Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the EU) and Cogeca (General Committee for Agricultural Co-operation in the EU) on Friday published a study putting losses to agriculture and forestry in Europe, caused by droughts and forest fires this years, at 13 billion EUR. The worst-affected countries are Italy (losses of 4 to 5 billion EUR), France (4 billion EUR, of which 1.5 billion in the beef meat sector and 500 million EUR in the fruit sector), Germany (1.5 billion EUR, including 650 million EUR in fodder and 388 million in arable crops), Portugal (over 1 billion EUR lost due to fires), Spain (810 million EUR, including 710 million EUR in the arable crops sector), and Austria (197 million EUR, including 150 million EUR in fodder). Hungary was the worst hit of the new Member States, with losses estimated at 453 million EUR.
Fodder losses vary between 30% (Germany, Austria and Spain) and 40% (Italy), and up to 60% in France. The costs of re-building stocks of fodder could be as high as 1.5 billion EUR. As for cereals, the harvest will be down 23 million tonnes this year, 10% less than the previous season. Maize production fell 32%, and barley 11%. Wine production is estimated at 153.37 million hectolitres, a reduction of 11% compared to the average production of the five previous years (171.9 million hl). Italy recorded the largest drops in production (-18%), followed by France (-17%), Germany and Luxembourg (-15%), and Austria (-11%). However, production increased in Portugal (+10%), Spain (+5%) and Greece (+4%). This is the third consecutive year in which EU wine production has fallen. The study shows that 647.069 hectares of forest were destroyed in fires, including 390.146 in Portugal, and 127.525 in Spain.