The drought and the high temperatures have had an impact on the harvest of French charentais melons. “This month, the supply of French charentais melons will be lower than usual. The campaign will last throughout the month of September, but the quantities will be lower,” explains Jérôme Jausseran, president of the Force Sud producers’ group.
The demand, on the other hand, is rather high. “The high temperatures have boosted the demand for charentais melons.” According to Jérôme, there is no shortage of melons on the market (yet). “At the moment, we can say that offer and demand are pretty well balanced, resulting in a fluid market.”
The producers of Force Sud currently offer only melons from France. Outside of the French season, Force Sud proposes melons from Senegal, Spain and Morocco. Together, the producers of Force Sud produce more than 23,000 tons of charentais melons per year.
Active watermelon market
The watermelon market has been very dynamic all summer. “This can be explained by the great weather conditions. The watermelon market is even more weather-sensitive than the melon market, and the nice summer days have resulted in a very high demand. At the same time, imports are lower than usual because of the reduced production areas in Spain. In previous years, the watermelon market was indeed in a sort of crisis, but with the lower imported volumes and the favorable weather, the watermelon demand has picked up again.”
Besides charentais melons and watermelons, Force Sud also offers strawberries, organic salads and sweet potatoes.
For more information:
Jérôme Jausseran
Force Sud
Phone: +33 4 99 47 49 49
j.jausseran@forcesud.fr
www.forcesud.fr