With the spring harvest in full swing, melon and watermelon prices are well below normal for these dates. Sources of Coexphal have reported the possible causes for this situation and drawn some conclusions.
In the case of melons, the average price to date is 60% lower than in the previous year and barely exceeds 0.20 Euro at origin. This fall in prices is the result of oversupply in recent weeks, as well as of the delay in the start of the harvest. Moreover, Almeria has been left with a very small market window due to the increase in the volume coming from overseas and the arrival of Murcia's melons.
In the case of watermelons, prices have fallen by 10% compared to last season. This is mostly due to the fact that the forecasts available at the beginning of the campaign pointed to a moderate increase of the production volume, but again, bad weather in the destination markets has led to delays in the harvest, so there has been a lot of product available in recent weeks.
Given this situation, the growers who bet on these fruits for the spring campaign in Almeria currently have to sell these products at prices that are now below the threshold of profitability, so some are already rating this melon and watermelon campaign as "really bad."