Melon and watermelon supplies are running tight and prices are climbing as Latin American sources wind down before Spain is fully on stream.
One importer told freshinfo: “Basically Brazil is coming to an end, there has been a small gap in supply from Costa Rica and Panama has been late with its watermelons. The first arrivals of Spanish fruit have been typical of very early arrivals - hard and crunchy. Unfortunately on watermelon, I expect the situation will continue like this until we really get into the Spanish crop.”
The situation has been exacerbated by ideal consumption weather in the UK, as the sunny spells have driven demand.
The story has been similar on other melon types. The importer told freshinfo: “Because the sun’s been out for the past 10 days, yellow melons have been making good money. Honduras is the only source for Cantaloupe at the moment and that is coming to an end. It’s the same on Galia and it is going to be two to three weeks before we get anything out of Almería.”
The Spanish season is running late because of heavy spring rainfall, which has delayed planting.
A spokeswoman for melon grower-exporter Procomel said: “Our forecast for 2010 is for slightly higher volumes, but because of the rainfall in the last few months, start dates for the campaign are running behind.”
The UK is a major market for Procomel, accounting for 30-35 per cent of all its fruit. Last season it launched Sugar Baby Gold onto the market as a mini, supersweet fruit targeted at small households. This season production is set to more than double, to 3,000 tonnes.
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