APRICOT HARVEST WILL DECLINE THRICE IN ARMENIA IN 2007
Agricultural Marketing Project, Ukraine
June 26 2007
Apricot harvest has declined thrice down to 15-16 thousand tons in
2007 comparing to more than 50 thousands of tons of harvest a year
ago. Garnik Petrosyan, the Chief of Plant Production Department,
the Ministry of Agriculture of Republic of Armenia provided this
information to "Delovoy Express".
He said that severe frosts injured apricot orchards a lot. Frosts
caused the total loss in agriculture worth to the amount of $1.29 mln,
and most part of the loss was preconditioned by poor apricot harvest,
Mr. Petrosyan added. The Chief of Department points out that Armenian
apricots are mostly exported to Russia. The export amounted to 8-9,000
tons past year; the Armenian processing enterprises preserved 5,000
tons of apricots. Mr. Petrosyan thinks that the deficit for apricots
will be observed on market this year because of the poor harvest,
so that the price for this fruit may grow.
The analysts of ""Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal" inform
that Ukrainian apricot has also been severely injured by spring
frosts. According to the tentative estimations, apricot production
will be approximately twice as low than usual. But, apricot orchards
suffered in 2007 less than a year ago, so that apricot harvest
2007 will grow 50-70% comparing to 2006; it may amount to around
45-50,000 tons.