“If the sun starts shining, where we are going to get the watermelons?”

Thewatermelon season has started and is going strong. Peter Smets, of Smets FoodTrading, says: “We are loading trucks in Spain, Italy, and Greece.” The seasonpresents some challenges. “From Murcia, the Spanish season has just startedwith limited numbers; Italy does not have many watermelons either. Greece hasmore than enough watermelons, because of the economic depression; however,there are not enough trucks available from Greece.

“To Greece, the transport costs about a 1000 Euro more per truck. I’mconcerned that the transport will be too expensive when the sun starts shiningand the sales rise. Because the Greek export lags behind, the market is stillin balance with reasonable prices,” says Peter. “With these prices, everyonecan make some money on the market.”

“Theprices are reasonable, for now, but the lack of sunshine limits the sale.Otherwise we would have sold a lot more. If the sun starts shining, I wonderwhere we are going to get the watermelons. The forecast predicts warmer weatherthis week; we have not seen a lot of sunshine yet. And the humid, cloudy, andwet weather is not stimulating the sale of watermelons.”

For more information:
Peter Smets
Smets Food Trading
Tel: +31 46 20 60 200
peter@smetsfoodtrading.com