Although the weather during last winter was mild and more autumn or spring like, wild animals have caused considerable damages to crop sowings, as data summary by BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (BTA) indicates.

“Until now, BTA has received 126 insurance claims for frost damages and wild animal inflicted damages to sowings of crops, and 367 thousand euros have already been disbursed to 52 farms,” said BTA Baltic Insurance Risk Underwriting Department Director Ivo Danče.

According to Danče’s forecasts, the total volume of insurance claims made for damages to crop sowings during winter might reach 600 thousand euros. BTA is the Latvian market leader in crops insurance, offering, for a streak of years, farmers to insure their crops, legumes and oil plants.

“The customer, considering an insurance cover for its cultivated plants, may choose the preferable combination of insurance risks to be covered, including combinations like hail, hail together with rain, of course, the increasingly common storms, frost, hail, rain, storm. Also, BTA is the first insurer in Latvia, offering farmers 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,” says I.Danče.

According to Latvian Insurers’ Association data, the total volume of insured crop fields keeps increasing from year to year. The largest volume of insured fields at the moment is in Zemgale, with around 20% of the total field areas covered, in Vidzeme and Kurzeme this rate is 10–12%, while Latgale is most reluctant to in this process – mere 3-5% of crops were insured.

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 largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 25 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is a clear market leader in its CEE markets. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.

Additional information:

Elīna Rasmane

Marketing and Public Relations Department Director

BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS

e-mail elina.rasmane@bta.lv