This season’s Murcian watermelon campaign is set to be slightly lighter than the year before, as an ongoing shortage of water resources as well as the impact of the recent transport strike continue to affect exports from the Spanish region.
Leading Spanish fresh produce association Asaja Murcia estimates that watermelon production in Murcia will total around 95,000 tonnes this season, a 5 per cent reduction compared with a total of 101,000 tonnes in 2007.
Although Asaja Murcia general secretary Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca admitted that the campaign had not been as good as expected at the start of the season, the region’s prospects were “not as bad” as in the neighbouring province of Almeria.
However, Mr Gálvez said the impact of poor weather conditions and a shortage of water, as well as June’s Spanish transport strike had been felt in both regions.
“The shortage of water that Murcia has suffered has resulted in a crop of smaller sized watermelons than in a typical year,” he added.
Spain produces an estimated 730,000 tonnes of watermelons annually, of which around 100,000 tonnes are sourced from growers in Murcia.
