The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies on Tuesday said it expects pre-tax losses, after reinsurance, from Hurricane Katrina to be between $200 million and $220 million.

L.A.-based Farmers said the losses experienced by its Property and Casualty Insurance Exchanges are within expected total catastrophe losses for the year and will not affect its plans for surplus growth in the Insurance Exchanges in 2005. The nation’s third-largest property and casualty insurance group anticipates approximately 32,000 Katrina-related claims and said its National Catastrophe Team is “making good progress already.”

Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi the areas hardest hit by Katrina are relatively new markets for Farmers, whose share in these states is only about 3 percent for its homeowners insurance unit and even lower in auto insurance.

“Our claims people have been doing a phenomenal job getting our customers back where they belong,” said Jeff Beyer, senior vice president for Farmers, in a statement. “We are doing all we can to expedite service at this time when our customers need us most.”