The big winner during hot summer days has always been the watermelon. At those times the sweet fruits not only grow well; they are also popular with consumers as juicy, cool refreshments. However, the ideal situation for many consumers would be the one where the watermelon would also be grown in Germany itself... "It was unthinkable a few years ago, but today this seems possible thanks to a number of innovative producers, coupled with a modern marketing company and the ideal selection of varieties for local production."
The plan of Fruvital Fruchthandelsgesellschaft, in cooperation with seed producer Hazera, has been successful in this regard: German watermelons enjoy enormous popularity and the demand can hardly be satisfied.
"The melons are ripe now and they are already being marketed. Demand is great. Everything went according to plan for us, the weather is right, the demand for regional production is huge and the German product is arriving at exactly the right time and in good quantities," reports a spokesman for Fruvital, a company based in Willich.
There had been some cooler nights in early summer, but the warmth of the past few weeks made up for it all. "Now our German producers will be harvesting the melons in the next three to four weeks, which will then go directly to the retail trade. Sales are also very good in the current summer weather."
The fruit does not encounter long transport routes and is not stored: "Imported goods are often underway for a few days, but we can react very quickly and flexibly to the needs of the retail trade, offering melons fresh every day. Fruvital is fully focused on the domestic market and so there is no need to make any cutbacks in quality or quantity," the company emphasises.
Although melons are not in themselves
a novelty in southern German cultivation, with this concept Fruvital, Hazera and their partners from the cultivation sector have hit a nerve in the retail trade: "We specialise in the retail trade and have selected the varieties accordingly. We work with extremely good varieties that need - and get - a little more love during cultivation. But the taste and shelf life are particularly good as well."
This appeals to the consumer: "Quality-oriented retail customers are the purchasers of our German melons, even if the price of the product is somewhat higher than that of the Spanish product due to the additional expense. The quality and the local cultivation score points." Irrespective of their origin, these melons get slightly higher prices due to the great demand.
However, German melons are by no means a niche product: "We have the fruit available in trade-relevant quantities and supply consistently high quality. This is one of the reasons why the concept is so well received in the retail trade. All in all, we are confident for this German melon season: The melon production peak coincides with the temperature peaks; it couldn't have been planned better."
For more information:
Thomas Hinkelmann
Fruvital Fruchthandelsgesellschaft mbH
Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Str. 35
47877 Willich
Tel.: +49 2154 / 884 29-17
E-Mail: qm@fruvital.de