"In the month of May, Uruana, in the state of Goiás, will be the main supplier of watermelons for the domestic market. The harvest kicked off in the second half of April and should reach its peak from mid-May, and the season will then continue until October. Producers in the region believe that productivity may be lower in the first months of the campaign due to the rains recorded in March and April. However, from July onward, the yields should recover," reported HF Brazil, which has carried out an analysis of the situation of the watermelon market in Brazil.
Other regions
HF Brasil says that the second part of the watermelon harvest in the Teixeira de Freitas region, in Bahia, ended in April. In this region, the harvest started in February, after a reduction of the acreage in the first part of the season. The supply remained stable during the harvest. Some producers tried to increase their margins and decided not to concentrate their sales activities in the southeast, but to ship the fruit to other markets. In the period from February to April, prices were 13% lower than in the same period of 2017, but they stood 60% above the production costs.
The harvest in the region of São Paulo also concluded in April. "The São Paulo season started with high productivity. In April, especially in the Itápolis region, they suffered from a lack of rainfall and some viruses proliferated. As a result, productivity declined in the last stretch of the harvest campaign. However, prices have remained, on average, 15.6% above those of the previous season and 103% higher than the production costs." This means that, while there have been some obstacles, they have managed to obtain a very good profitability.
The last producing region mentioned in the article is Tocantins. It was explained that, due to an excess of rainfall, there were delays in the preparation of the soil. "The planting of the watermelons did not start until May and will continue until the end of June. There has been an 18% reduction of the acreage in this region compared to 2017. The harvest is expected to start in the second half of July and last until September."