The melon market has been good all year. “Supply isn’t too large, because some players decided not to import large amounts from Costa Rica and Panama. We will receive a nice volume of watermelons and yellow melons under our own brand, Black Jack, so that has been a good gamble in the line of our own brand,” says commercial manager Willem Koole from Frukar.
“The quality of the melons is very good. While harvest was a bit disappointing last year - this year isn’t too bad. We expect to receive good volumes for at least two more weeks,” the importer continues. “Our customers are also absorbing the melons well, and the sunny weather of recent weeks definitely helped with that. Demand is large especially from Southern Europe, but sales are also going smoothly on the domestic market, and in Germany and France and outside of Europe.”
The importer has not yet jumped on the bandwagon for mini-watermelons. “We focus primarily on larger sizes 2 to 6. I think the mini-watermelons are mostly interesting this season because of the higher unit price, but we expect a supply of mini-watermelons as of next year as well, because we have seen consumer demand shifting to this.” Frukar’s overseas melon season will be followed by supply from Spain, Italy and Morocco next month.