Oz Cyclone 1st Estimates - At Least $500 Million Loss Just For Crops

Australia was on Tuesday counting the cost of the devastation caused by Cyclone Larry in northeastern Queensland, with estimates ranging up to a billion dollars (750 million US). The Australian Banana Growers Council said the storm which swept through the country's biggest banana-growing region destroyed more than 200,000 tonnes of fruit worth 300 million dollars. The council's chief executive Tony Heidrich said the bulk of the industry's production would be in ruins for about a year and that the bill for infrastructure damage would also be high.

Up to 4,000 workers on Queensland's banana plantations, which produce 95 percent of the country's crop, could lose their jobs, industry officials said. The main sugar farmers' organisation, Canegrowers, said sugar cane worth 200 million dollars had been destroyed -- about 10 percent of the country's production for the season. Sugar prices on the international market showed a sharp spike after news of the cyclone broke.

Canegrowers general manager Ian Ballantyne said the estimate of 200 million dollars was for crops alone, and damage to infrastructure would push the figure much higher. "Sugar mills are damaged along with bridges and roads. Cane infrastructure has been hit hard," he was quoted as saying by the national AAP news agency.

Australia's avocado industry was also hit, with the cyclone destroying fruit worth at least 15 million dollars, the industry body Avocados Australia said.


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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australia_Counts_Cost_Of_Cyclone_Damage.html