Positive perspective for the watermelon campaign in Spain

The greenhouses of Almeria (Southeast Spain) are already cutting watermelons and soon will start with the first melons. This season has good projections, due to the reactivation of sales for hotels. In addition, the decreased supply of stone fruit can convert watermelon and melon to an alternative of those.

Regarding the stone fruit campaign, according to data from Europeach, the European apricot production forecast a volume of 345.502 tons, which is 20% less than in 2020 and 40% less than the average for the period 2015-2019, with reductions of 15% in Spain (86.835 tons), 5% in Italy (154.224 tons), 43% in France (47.443 tons) and 29% in Greece (55.000 tons).

Andrés Góngora, the head of the fruit and veg sector at Spanish Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Livestock breeders (Coag), is betting on the impact of tourism and hotel activity in the coming months, since the volume of purchases from the HoReCa channel is high on the coasts.

Luis Miguel Fernández, the manager of the Association of Organizations of Producers of Fruits and Vegetables of Almería (Coexphal), stressed in the presentation "Sandi, the first European watermelon", that the production in 2021 will increase by 3%, with a trend towards the black seedless variety, versus the white.

Small calibres show increases of around 7 % and organic production also has a growth trend of 6 %, compared to conventional.

The company La Unión expects to increase the sales volume of its crimson watermelon compared to the previous year, exceeding 60 million kilos. The company commented that they perceive a greater demand for value-added products, and observe a trend towards brands within the category.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) have confirmed that the pandemic influenced an increase in the consumption of watermelon (+9%) and melon (+16%) in households in 2020. Compared to the average of the last 5 years, exports increased 8.5% and 14.3% on average in both cases.

In 2020, Spain dedicated 20.301 hectares to the cultivation of watermelon and produced 1.23 million tons (the highest figures since 2015), of which Andalusia produced 718.811 tons, the Valencian Community - 206.263 tons, Castilla-La Mancha - 192,095 tons and Murcia - 75,112 tons.

To date, the main recipients of Spanish watermelons are Germany (324.901 tons in 2020), France (130.987 tons), the United Kingdom (66.416 tons) and the Netherlands (52.177 tons). 

Regarding melon, Coexphal's partners foresee a 3 % drop in production, with decreases in surface area in the varieties that have more extension: galia and yellow, and falls in cantaloup and skin of sapo melons.

The melon area (18.517 hectares in 2020) showed a decrease since 2015, with a production of 655.504 tons in 2020: Castilla-La Mancha with 205.202 tons, Murcia with 200.876 tons, Andalusia with 158.980 tons, the Valencian Community with 42.934 tons and other communities accumulated some 47.513 tons.

In 2020, melon exports accounted for 414.413 tons, of which 117.557 were destined for France, 101.191 for Germany, 58.054 for the United Kingdom, and 51.823 for the Netherlands.

source: diariodealmeria.es

photo: hortoinfo.es