Although melon is known as an exotic fruit due to the heat-soaked locations it's imported from, and therefore associated with sunny days, sales have fared well through the winter months.

According to Kantar Worldpanel data for the week ending February 13, sales of melons have increased year-on-year by 14.1 per cent and volume by 19.2 per cent.

Vincent van Wolferen, project co-ordinator for seed company Rijk Zwaan, says the British are particularly fond of melon and eat far more of the fruit than other northern European countries.

'It cuts very well, it has a great taste and in the UK lots of people appear to like to eat it, far more than we do,' he says. Rijk Zwaan is introducing a new Galia melon from Costa Rica and is currently in talks with British supermarkets to supply the fruit.

Kantar Worldpanel data also reveals that the most popular variety of melon is Honeydew, which accounts for 42.5 per cent of the total market. Watermelon is the fastest growing of the main varieties, increasing by 27 per cent in value terms over the last year.

The penetration for the category is just over 50 per cent for the 52-week period, with a frequency of purchase of 5.7 purchases for the year, just under one purchase every other month.

The main growing areas are Spain, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Brazil, but with small volumes also coming from Italy, Portugal and France.

England is putting its hat in the ring with melons being grown in Kent and Staffordshire under polytunnels.

Keelings Fresh International also harvested the first of its trial Cantaloupe melons from its Evesham nursery in September last year.

A spokesman for Keelings says that it too has been looking through the Kantar data and found that in the winter season (September-April), the main promotional mechanic for the biggest-selling lines is a two-for-£3 offer, with retailers trying to maintain a £1 price point through the summer (May-August).

'They [melons] are frequently linked in with promotions to other tropical fruit lines – pineapples, mangoes and kiwi – but not really linked across categories.'

Brazil has had an especially good few years with exporting melons; in 2012 its figures were slightly higher than those of the previous year, at 693,000 tonnes.

Britain is a particularly important market for the South American country, which is planning a series of events this year to promote the fruit, and other exports including mangoes, in the run-up to the FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament. —