Germany: melons remained on the shelves in August

The unusually cool weather this past August in Germany has had effects on the consumption of different fruit and vegetable products, reports the German website Fruchthandel.de. Market research form GfK reported that melons in particular were left on the shelves in August, while last year melons were selling quite well.

"But it was not only the bad weather in August that caused this, but also the nice spring that has had effects on fruit sales. Many fruit harvests (such as berries and pitted fruits) began earlier than normal due to the good weather. These kinds of developments were very positive, until around the end of July when changes began to happen. All in all, in August 2014 fruit and fresh food saw a 20% drop in revenue when compared to August 2013," according to GfK.

In August 2014 revenue from vegetables was also down, 8.5% to be specific, from August 2013. However, this is in large part due to lower prices. Due to the high harvest volumes that are expected, the storage areas will need to be thoroughly cleaned and the goods will need to be available at a cheap price.