Spain: Shortage of Piel de Sapo melons and high prices

The Spanish market is switching from the Piel de Sapo melons from Senegal and Brazil to the ones coming from the fields of Almeria. This transition of origins has caused a bit of a market gap, since Almeria is arriving later, because of a delay in the planting of melons and watermelons, and other vegetables recorded high prices at the time of the planting.

"Temperatures are increasing in Spain and demand is rising, and given the low availability of melons at this time, prices are high; significantly higher than at the start of last season's melon campaign in Almeria. It's a good start to the campaign," explains Antonio Agudo, manager of El Melonero, of Villaconejos. "In addition to arriving late, it seems that more and more producers in Almeria are choosing to grow watermelons, as reported by the seed houses."

"We finished with the Senegalese melons last week and were very satisfied with the quality of the product we received and with very satisfactory prices. I think the quality of the green melons from Brazil and Senegal is well above that of the melons from Panama, Honduras or Costa Rica," points out the producer and marketer. "After Almería, we will continue with the melons from Murcia and later with Castile-La Mancha".

Slow but steady growth of consumption in Europe

The Madrid-based company sells 85% of its melons in the domestic market, while the rest is exported to various countries of the European continent, where, according to Antonio Agudo, the Piel de Sapo melon is slowly gaining market share.

"Piel de Sapo melons are still rather unknown in Europe, where Galia, yellow, Cantaloupe or Charentais melons are traditionally consumed, depending on the country; however, the consumption of green melons in the rest of Europe has been growing slowly, but steadily in recent years. When we attend international fairs, European visitors are surprised by the taste of Piel de Sapo melons. I believe that, in the long-term, we could be talking about a much greater consumption of Piel de Sapo melons in central and northern Europe," he explains.

"At the moment, we notice that our customers in export destinations are beginning to understand that the larger Piel de Sapo melons are tastier than the smaller ones, since outside Spain consumers are accustomed to melons that are much smaller than the traditional Spanish Piel de Sapo. It may eventually be possible for us to sell the same melons in Spain as in other European countries, but it will still take a long time."