Spanish watermelon producers are celebrating achieving “better than expected” results from this year’s watermelon campaign.
Growers in Murcia are celebrating achieving “positive” results from this year’s export campaign, which has helped the sector recover from the disappointing seasons recorded over recent years.
Regional fresh produce association Asaja Murcia said that in spite of the ongoing economic recession and an oversupply in external markets during the summer months, the campaign had been “better than expected”.
In a statement, Asaja Murcia’s general secretary Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca said that his organisation was “satisfied that the campaign had brought happiness” to producers who last season faced prices that did not cover the costs of production.
He said: “The campaign has turned out to be better than expected because we have received far superior prices to last season.
“Prices have been attractive and demand for watermelons has been very strong, which has enabled us to carry out very fluid sales in both internal and external markets.”
According to Gálvez, the high temperatures recorded in Germany, the UK and France, as well as the shortage of others products such as stonefruit, helped boost demand for watermelons during the summer months, leading to higher than hoped for prices.
He added: “The campaign received very fruitful sales, and the good prices continued through to August, which enabled watermelon producers in Guadalentín Valley to overcome the bad results that we saw over recent years.”
