Thursday, August 3, 2023, 00:41
Finally, a normalization can be seen in the supply of melon and watermelon after a month of July marked by the shortage of product and, as a consequence, a situation of skyrocketing prices for consumers. And it is that the destruction of more than half of the harvest in many farms due to the rains and hail at the end of May and June caused some shortages in the markets and significant losses.
Late plantings in both the Murcia Region and Castilla-La Mancha are now responding when it comes to meeting the demand for this second half of the campaign –August and September–. Some productions that are around 12,000 tons/week of melon and 15,000 of watermelon, and that are concentrated in high areas such as Jumilla and Yecla, in search of cooler nights and less water consumption of the crops, as well as in Manchegan lands. For this reason, thanks to the volumes collected and a better adjustment to the quantities programmed with national and international clients, rebalancing has been achieved again, as highlighted by the Association of Producers-Exporters of Fruits and Vegetables of the Region (Proexport). and in the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Murcia (Fecoam),
And it is that the sector is very aware “to cut the fruits at the optimum moment of maturation and in the most demanded calibres. We are positive because up to now and for the set of varieties that we grow, we are obtaining the sweetness and texture that consumers like so much”, highlights José Cánovas, president of Melón-Sandía at Proexport and commercial director of Fruca Marketing. For his part, Felipe López, sectoral representative of Vegetables at Fecoam and manager of the Gregal cooperative, indicates that in the August harvests “we are obtaining generally very homogeneous sizes and the quality is turning out to be excellent.” He moreover he concludes that «the prices in origin have moderated».
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