"Spanish melons are smaller this season"

The Spanish melon season hasn't been that rewarding up to now, according to a Belgian trader. "There is a little more action now that the weather is picking up, you can feel it. It has been sunny for a few days and it looks like it will stay nice, so demand is increasing." The importer has a diverse assortment and admits that there hasn't been any one variety that is standing out. "It is different day by day."

"Next to that, it depends on what people want. Customers want the prettiest, best, tastiest or the sexiest melon. Everyone has their own preferences. Long life is good, uniformly yellow, harder, longer shelf life and also ones which are not too bad to eat. If you say: I'm going for taste, you pick a traditional variety. These are not always the prettiest, or perfectly yellow, or have a longer shelf life, but they are tasty. It depends on what you want."

"It is notable that there are a lot more smaller melons this season. There are quite a few in size 7/8 and not everybody wants that. You could still get away with that in Belgium, by the way. For me, there are too many melons that are a bit too small this season. I prefer selling the fatter ones. We still get around four Euros for sizes 4/5/6, which is more than reasonable. Smaller ones sell for 2 or 2.5 Euros. The fatter ones sell a little bit easier. It's not that they are left on the shelves, but it is more difficult. There aren't too many yellow and green ones on the market either. Their sizes are smaller than last season as well. In general, there are smaller sizes for every melon variety."