Imported watermelon supplies are looking heavy which will likely cause a drop in the market.
“I’m starting melons again in a couple of days,” says Michael Wilson of Etobicoke, Ont.-based National Produce Marketing Inc., who notes that while he generally brings in melons for the first quarter, he bypassed it for 2019 due to market conditions. “I haven’t touched watermelons since the end of December. Normally we do but pricing was extremely high.”
At that time, slim imported supplies thanks to weather fluctuations in Mexico for example meant watermelons were crossing into Nogales, Az. at approximately 40 cents/ lb. “That meant we’d have somewhere around a $600 bin of watermelons which won’t sell. And to compete with what the chains put in in personal melons, there was no point. So I just left it alone,” says Wilson.
Spike in volume
With the incoming volume, Wilson now notes that prices have come down. And combined with the warmer weather coming in, demand will pick up too. “But I’m seeing a glut of supply from Central America and a start-up of production from Mexico so I’m anticipating a quick drop in the market,” says Wilson, noting the Central American melons are largely coming in from Guatemala. “It’s not a crash but it will go to where it’s going to be affordable.”
He’s noted the market has adjusted slowly so far though some major players are left with too much fruit and looking for a place to sell the excess.
This month also marks the return to full-sized melons. “They’re going to start phasing out the personal melons probably at the end of the month,” says Wilson. “It’s so easy for retailers to put honeydews, personal melons and cantaloupes out for almost the same price and sell them. That’s been the trend.”
Meanwhile domestic production of watermelon on the East Coast will likely start in Florida in mid-April, though Wilson notes these will largely be tunnel-grown melons.
For more information:
Michael Wilson
National Produce Marketing Inc.
Tel: +1 (416)-259-0833
mike@nationalproduce.com
www.nationalproduce.com