Fruit prices are likely to soar as many apples and pears dropped from their trees due to Typhoon Bolaven which hit the nation this week. Another typhoon also on the way, Tembin, may make matters even worse.

Insurance payouts to be given to the affected farms are expected to reach 80 billion won ($70.5 million), NongHyup Property and Casualty Insurance said on Thursday. Nonghyup analyzed the financial loss of 9,424 hectares of orchards throughout the nation that were harmed due to the typhoon.

The loss is more than double the amount of that when Typhoon Kompasu also harmed South Korea’s orchards and farms two years ago. At the time, about 5,181 ha of orchards saw a total loss of 39.1 billion won.

With many apples and pears having dropped, market insiders expect that the prices will jump, especially when demand rises ahead of Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving Day, next month.

“Fruits were expected to be cheaper this autumn because the harvest looked to be good this year but the supply suddenly dropped due to the typhoon. Fruit prices will soar,” said an insider at Seoul Agricultural and Marine Products Corporation.

Major marts are chipping into save the farms. E-Mart and Lotte Mart began to sell typhoon-dropped fruits at its stores worldwide since Thursday and Nonghyup Hanaro Club and Home plus will begin on Friday. The fruits will be sold at about 30 percent discounted prices.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)