SLOVAK farmers have reportedly raised concerns about the revenues for this year’s harvest, saying prices are too low and there is a risk that their income could decrease.
“The monetisation [of the harvests] is currently very difficult, very problematic,” Milan Semančík, head of the Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK), told the press on August 5, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
Semančík pointed to the low prices of certain grains. The average purchasing price of common wheat in the first half of the year was by €25 per tonne lower than last year’s annual average, while the price of feed wheat was lower by nearly €20 per tonne. Since it is expected that the production of wheat will stand at 1.865 million tonnes this year, the potential loss for farmers may be €37 million.
Regarding rapeseed oil, where the year-on-year drop in prices stands at about €35 per tonne, the loss may be more than €13 million, SPPK warned.
The SPPK also reported that by August 4 up to 95 percent of rapeseed oil, 92 percent of winter barley and 71 percent of wheat has already been harvested. Semančík said this year’s harvest has its specific characteristics. Though farmers started harvesting two weeks earlier than normal, they have not harvested much more than last year, mostly as a result of bad weather, he explained, as reported by the TASR newswire.
“Regarding the quantity, we are in better situation than last year; [but] the results are only preliminary,” Semančík added, as quoted by SITA. “The harvest will move to the north and east, so there will be certain corrections in average yields per hectare.”
The average yields per hectare are higher than last year by about 1-1.2 tonnes, SPPK said.
Source: SITA, TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
