The Middle East is facing a wave of bad weather, some places in the region have seen heavy snow fall. According to Mehadrin Director, Oron Ziv the snow is a gift and the people of Israel are enjoying it immensely. The snow has fallen mostly in the high areas and not on production.
In Israel the rain, hail and wind is effecting production. The rain in some places has caused floods. In some places 250 ml of rain has fallen in five days, this is half of what normally falls in a year.
The wind has particular implications for the production of avocados and potatoes. The foliage on potato plants has been damaged, this is especially harmful for the young potatoes. The hail has implications for clementines, although Mehadrin use nets, hail can always cause serious damage.
Harvesting can not be carried out in such bad weather. However, the weather forecast for next week is better. Only when it is dry, will the harvest begin again.
Egypt has been experiencing exceptional weather for the last couple of days. Three Egyptian ports have been closed. Alexandria, Damietta and Dekheila ports remained closed for four days when the high winds produced waves of up to four meters. "The ports re-opened around midday today but it is possible they will close again," explained Mohamed Selim from Agro Fresh, Egypt.
Temperatures are still low, normally at this time of the year Egypt will have temperatures of 20-22°C over day and 15-17°C at night, at the moment it is 12°C during the day, falling to as little a 4°C at night.
Shaimaa Emam from Global Fruits said that she has never experienced temperatures so low and harvesting in coastal areas has to be stopped due the bad weather.
Also Dutch importer, Jurgen van 't Hoff of BioWorld, who sent the photos of the snow, says that the weather conditions will affect the shipments. Others agree. "The boat that was supposed to depart Israel on Sunday is still there, meaning there will be no arrival early next week. Therefore prices will shoot up."
