Rain brought the Brazilian melon season to an early end, so Costa Rican melons found themselves in a favorable market. "It was excellent, with high prices during the season's first weeks. Now, there's slightly more availability," says Bertus Schipper of the Dutch company Zoutewelle, who recently visited his Costa Rican suppliers.
"Prices are around a euro per kilo for seedless watermelons and roughly €0.90 for Quetzali watermelons. Yellow melons go for about €12, with somewhat more limited smaller sizes selling for €13-€14. Cantaloupe melons are being sold for about €8. Generally, still decent prices, but you can tell there's a bit more volume available."
"We expect quite a few melons to come in next week, but volumes should quickly decrease from weeks 14-15. Costa Rica sometimes has a significant export towards the end of the season, but that's not expected this season," explains Bertus. "Unlike last year, we're not anticipating a surge in supply from Panama either. Prices may, therefore, increase slightly at the end of the season."
"The weather and cultivation conditions in Costa Rica were stable this season. Growers occasionally had issues with thrips, but that hasn't substantially impacted the total numbers, thus allowing the supply to proceed as expected. Neither does early Ramadan have much effect. Perhaps the weather forecast for the coming weeks will encourage people to buy melons. But as always in the melon market, it's a gamble," concludes Bertus.
For more information:
Bertus Schipper
Zoutewelle
140 Handelsweg
2988 DC, Ridderkerk, The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0) 180 642 364
[email protected]
www.zoutewelle.com