Mauritania's watermelon season is progressing under severe logistical difficulties that are hampering exports and cutting into exporters' margins, despite good production volumes and quality. "Exporters are going to suffer," regrets Mauritanian producer and exporter El Mokhtar Mahdaoui.
Mahdaoui reports, "The season started a little early this year, about ten days ago, due to a slight climatic irregularity. The cultivated area is around 2,000 hectares. While the extra early crop has quality issues, current harvests are good, both in terms of quality and size. However, we are seeing several problems affecting exports."
The grower continues, "The season starts early, while it's still cold in Europe, which doesn't favor watermelon consumption. From this point of view, it's not a big problem, since we can extend the season until mid-April. Other problems are affecting marketing more seriously. This year, we're seeing a lot of demand for small seedless watermelons, which are not widely grown. Worse still, logistical complications are a thorn in the side of exporters."
The cold weather in neighboring Morocco has reduced vegetable production and increased prices, reducing Moroccan exports to West Africa. As a result, the number of trucks heading for Mauritania is significantly lower than usual, impacting Mauritanian watermelon exporters. Mahdaoui explains, "We rely almost entirely on Moroccan truckers to deliver watermelons to Europe since there are no shipments by boat. Trucks come empty from Morocco, considerably increasing our logistics costs, more than doubling them. At present, the transportation cost alone is up to 0.3 EUR per kilogram, and we find ourselves exporting at slim margins or even at cost price."
"Many truckers who used to deliver to Sahel countries like Niger and Burkina Faso are deserting this route because of the current perilous security situation, causing a shortage of trucks in Mauritania as well," Mahdaoui continues.
"We'll see how the season unfolds and hope demand takes off. Mauritanian watermelons are of very good quality this season and we hope that the growers' efforts will be rewarded by good demand. The lesson to be learned is to create and preserve the "made in Mauritania" origin, avoiding production out of season or too early, which penalizes all producers and exporters," he adds.
The difficulties in Mauritania benefit its main competitor at this time of year, Senegal. Mahdaoui grows watermelons in Senegal too, and reports, "On the other hand, in Senegal, the season is going calmly. The cultivated area is around 2,600 ha, of which 70-80% is covered by contracts with supermarkets. We deliver by boat on two weekly shipping lines, so there's no commercial or logistical risk, and the season is progressing serenely."
For more information:
Mehdaoui El Mokhtar
Consulting Agro-Industriel
Tel: +212 661-285356
Email: [email protected]