August 29 2007, 10:00

Watermelon yield was much lower than in 2006 in Kherson region

According to information provided by CIS produce business periodical, "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits", the yield of watermelons and melons was much lower than in the previous year in Kherson region which produces more than a half of all melons and watermelons in Ukraine. At the present moment the specialists specify the yield; though as of today, the yield has obviously declined not less than 35-45% if compared to the previous year. Great difficulties with the yield were also observed in Zaporizhzhya, Odesa and Nikolayev regions.

As a result of the unfavorable weather conditions watermelon from the southern regions of Ukraine was characterized by relatively small size, but the sugar content was high enough. Ukrainian consumers prefer buying large watermelons; the buyers in the EU countries choose for relatively small watermelons, which are difficult to sell in our country.

It is also interesting to mention that the largest watermelons were often supplied this season from the regions, which are not referred to as the traditional production regions of the cucurbits crops. Some producers of Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kyrovograd and Donetsk regions were able to grow high quality watermelons, which were supplied to Kyiv, Lviv and even the southern regions of the country. At the present moment the producers see no problems to sell watermelons; the prices for this product are high enough to compensate the decreased yield. We'd like to point out that the wholesale price for watermelon on EXW terms is around $0.12-0.2/kg at the present moment in Ukraine. So, Ukrainian producers receive higher price now than their colleagues in Spain (the leading watermelon producer in European Union), where the maximal price is $0.16-0.17/kg.

You can learn the details about the perspectives of melon&watermelon market in 2008 from the leading experts of the industry during the fourth international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2007. Meeting New Leader", to be held on December 4th-6th 2007 on the territory of the National Complex "Expocenter of Ukraine" in Kyiv. The online registration form for the conference participants is available here.