Almeria's open-ground watermelon campaign, mainly in the Levante, is currently in full swing, although there may still be "some greenhouse crops left to be harvested," stated Francisco Vargas, president of Asaja Almeria.
Regarding the price development, while the greenhouse production has achieved terrible results, Vargas affirms that "the open-ground crops, which are more productive than under cover, are reaching acceptable prices, above € 0.20 per kilo."
The trend this year "is not to sell directly on the farm," explained the provincial president of Asaja Almería. This year, he clarified, "producers who are growing watermelons have previously signed contracts with horticultural companies, which are in charge of marketing them."
In the previous campaign, the watermelon harvest in the province lasted until mid-July; however, some fruit and vegetable traders have arranged programs lasting until the end of the summer, even reaching the month of October, thanks to agreements reached with other producing areas in the country.
There is currently a high demand for watermelons, both in Europe and in Spanish territory. "The prospect that consumption will continue to rise points to prices either remaining stable or rising, but there is no certainty of this, given last year's experience," said Vargas.
The market trends depend on the demand for larger calibres. "The trend imposed by supermarkets of selling watermelon halves is causing the majority of orders to be of large watermelons," explained Francisco Vargas. Moreover, he added, "quality is closely scrutinised. Customers are looking for watermelons at their optimum point of ripeness and rejecting those that fail to meet that standard."
Regarding the development of the campaign as a whole, it is worth noting that in the last week of April, when producers started harvesting watermelons in large volumes, their price "plunged, and it did not rise again until the last week of May, when the demand for this fruit increased in Europe," explained the president of Asaja. It was at this point, according to the data collected by the Prices and Markets Observatory of the Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia, when watermelons reached their best price of the month, with up to 0.10 Euro per kilo more than in the same period of the previous campaign, reaching 0.36 Euro per kilo. Later, up to early June, the orders even exceeded the available production, according to the weekly report carried out by the Observatory.
From there on, watermelon prices dropped again, currently standing slightly above 0.20 Euro per kilo.
Source: ideal.es
