The snow-rich and cold winter has wiped farmers' hopes for a good winter harvest – more than 300 insurance claims for damage to crop sowings have been received by now already. The number of claims submitted to BTA Baltic Insurance Company (hereinafter – BTA) keeps rising, and the insurer estimates that the total indemnity paid could reach 3 million euros.

The cold winter with heavy snowfall, and frost, characteristic to normal Latvian climatic conditions, and even crust-top snow on the eve of spring, brought joy to children, but not to farmers. Especially in the central and eastern parts of the country, where crop sowings perished due to freezing or under the thick cover of snow. The severest losses were sustained in municipalities of Alūksne and Valmiera.

The winter crops were less affected by snow in Kurzeme and Zemgale, although these regions were more affected by the cold. In some fields, the winter crops perished due to freezing, while activity of wild animals has been observed in other fields, especially those closer to forests. In search of food, the herbivores have dug up the fields and eaten the succulent stalks. Birds as well have made their contribution to the nasty deeds since the autumn, digging up and eating seeds.

“Having summarized the information received from farmers, we forecast that a total of at least 300 insurance claims will be submitted to requesting compensation for the damages caused to winter crops. The largest indemnity so far paid to a single farm has been 180 thousand euros, while the total amount that farmers will receive will be more than three million euros for the insured crop fields,” estimates Kārlis Liepiņš, the Director of BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department.  

BTA is the Latvian market leader in crop fields insurance, offering, for a streak of years, farmers to insure their crops, legumes and oil plants. BTA also is the pioneer insurer in Latvia, who offers an option to get insured against damages caused by wild animals and birds, as well as third-party illegal activity, lightning strike and fire risk.

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 30 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is a clear market leader in its Central and Eastern European markets, and takes care of more than 22 million customers. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange (since 1994) with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s. Vienna Insurance Group works in close partnership with Erste Group – the largest retail bank in CEE.


Additional information:
Elīna Zvejniece
Marketing and Public Relations Department Director
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
e-mail elina.zvejniece@bta.lv