Seasonal change on the watermelon market in Poland

2021-10-29 10:42

Watermelons on the Polish market are already available practically all year round. However, there is a huge difference in their supply between summer and winter. Above all, however, this difference is expressed in their prices.

For the time being, the last batches of watermelons from southern Europe are still available on the Polish wholesale market. But soon there will be a seasonal changing of the guard on the watermelon market. Cheaper fruits from the south of Europe will disappear, those imported recently mainly from Spain (although, in the full season, the range of suppliers is much wider - from Ukraine and Hungary, through Romania and Bulgaria, to Italy, Greece and the aforementioned Spain).

Instead, fruit from more distant and exotic countries south of the equator will appear. These will mainly be fruits imported from Brazil, as this country is the leader of winter watermelon exports to Poland. Of course, the supply of watermelons in winter will be only a fraction of that in summer. This is largely due to transport costs, which must translate into significantly higher prices. These costs will be a huge challenge for Brazilian exporters especially during this season, as fuel prices are rising sharply.

In addition, from the point of view of foreign suppliers, the situation on the currency market is unfavourable. The Polish zloty remains weak against both the euro and the dollar, which is hampering Polish import demand. It should also be remembered that in Poland watermelon is not a winter fruit, and therefore the level of demand during this period does not stimulate the import of larger quantities of this fruit.

Watermelon prices have already increased slightly in anticipation of the end of the "close import" season, but the dynamics of this trend are so far lower than those of last year. Then, watermelon prices from the beginning of October to the 28th of that month increased by 35 per cent to an average of 2.70 PLN/kg. Now we have prices in the range of 2.00-3.00 PLN per kilo, or 2.50 PLN per kilo on average, and the increase since the beginning of the month has been 25 per cent.

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