The watermelon campaign is underway in Almeria with still limited volumes. The cold weather is slowing down the production at a time when European retail chains are starting to show interest in the Spanish product.
"We started harvesting and marketing watermelons two weeks ago," says José Antonio Baños, president of Ejidomar. "So far, there has been a significant supply of Central American watermelons, and prices have been considerably lower compared to last year. The average prices generally range between €0.40 and €0.50 per kilo, while a year ago they stood between €0.80 and €1.00."
"Now, the major European distribution chains are making room on the shelves for Spanish watermelon, but cold weather has slowed the production down, given the sudden drop in temperatures since last week. After a rather warm winter, it seems like winter is back now that we are in the middle of spring," says Baños.
"Since the production process is slow and the demand is starting to grow, in many cases, watermelons are being harvested earlier and with smaller sizes. However, the demand is still meant to grow a lot more when the weather warms up again. That's when we expect prices to recover, especially considering that Almeria's watermelon acreage has been reduced by between 7 and 10% compared to last year," says the president of Ejidomar.
The bell pepper season is coming to a close with some difficulties
Meanwhile, the bell pepper campaign is already practically finished in Almería, where the last batches are being marketed. "At this time, there is enough bell pepper supply in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and other Central European countries, and there is only a small volume of low quality bell peppers left in Almería," says Baños.
"The bell pepper campaign started very well and with high prices, but it has not ended satisfactorily, as the quality dropped and the number of complaints has increased, driving prices down. We all had last year's good results in mind, but in the end, things didn't go as we expected," he says.
For more information:
José Antonio Baños
EJIDOMAR
El Ejido, Almería, Spain
T: +34 950483511
presidente@ejidomar.es
www.ejidomar.es