Middle East hit again by snow storms
Istanbul, Turkey was the first to suffer with 60cm of snow falling on Thursday.
Omer Kamp from Arava Export Growers in Israel said this very unusual. It is too soon to say what the longterm affect would be, "As long as we don't have frost it should be ok. In the short term there will be some difficulties especially if it freezes tonight then there will be a very serious effect but if the frost stays away it will not be too bad."
He goes on to say that the open ground production will be most effected, produce grown under cover will only have a delay due to low temperatures.
Meanwhile in Jordan 40cm of snow fell last night, although according to Ahmad Beuqi from trading company IBS, snow has been more recurrent in the last 4-5 years, especially at higher levels. They have already seen three heavy snow storms this year. This has affected fresh produce prices as deliveries from the producing valleys will not be able to reach the markets due to blocked roads.
For example Beuqi said tomatoes which would normally sell at 0.35 Euro have been going for 0.90 Euro in the last couple of days, as people are stocking up, cucumber, courgette and aubergine have also risen in price this week.
"It hard to tell what the long term impact will be but again frost is the major concern," said Beuqi.
Lebanon has also been hit by the storm, the third one this year, it has been reported that Lebanon's greenhouse, citrus and banana farmers will have lost about a third of their annual agricultural produce.
Ramiz Osseiran, head of the Farmers Association in south Lebanon, told The Daily Star, that close to 30% of greenhouse-grown vegetables across Lebanon have been destroyed so far this year, warning that the current storm will damage another 40 percent of what is left from this quarter's harvest.