Australia, January 8, 2020 — cyberinktimes.com — Several companies in Australia, including resorts, factories and insurance firms, have been reportedly hit as the summer’s devastating bushfires continue to rage. With
fires ripping through millions of hectares of land in New South Wales (NSW) and
Victoria, thousands of buildings and infrastructures had lost mobile signals
and electricity. The hazardous smoke haze blanketing
some key cities like Sydney, Canberra and
Melbourne does not only pose health issues
but has also led to the reduction of national economic productivity by around $500 million.
Property
company Aspen Group, which owns tourist parks, said that the bushfire and
holiday have converged, forcing most tourists and residents to stay away from
the affected regions. Thus, it expects a hit of at least A$500,000 to its income.
“Fire
activity along the NSW south coast has been catastrophic with significant loss
of life, housing and infrastructure… It is not known when trading conditions
will return to normal,” he added. Paul
van Heerwaarden, the chief executive of Australia’s largest dairy processor “Bega
Cheese” said the fires had not left severe impacts on its facilities but
unfortunately harmed some of its suppliers. “We
are working closely with our employees, dairy farm suppliers and freight
providers to ensure milk can be delivered and processed,” he said.
Meanwhile,
real estate and agricultural firm Vitalharvest Freehold Trust said the raging
fires damaged its berry farms’ shed, equipment and vehicles. He added that the
total cost of the damage is yet to be assessed.
Economists
say that cost
to the Australian economy of the wildfires has already reached approximately $2
billion and counting with around 6,000 insurance claims being lodged since
November last year as reported by the Insurance Council of Australia
(ICA).
