Spain: Quality prevails at the start of the Almeria watermelon campaign in the greenhouse

Fresh Watermelon

Fruits

Spain

Market & Price Trends

Published Mar 28, 2024

Tridge summary

ASAJA-Almería reports a significant increase in the production of extra-early watermelons in Almería, with the surface area for cultivation doubling, especially in the Bajo Andarax and Campo de Níjar regions. This early production phase enjoys lower costs and less competition, notably outperforming Senegal due to its production challenges this season. Conversely, there's a notable reduction in medium cycle watermelon cultivation in the Poniente area as farmers shift to alternative crops. The early watermelons are praised for their quality, flavor, sweetness, and color, providing a competitive edge. ASAJA-Almería calls for stringent import controls, accurate labeling, and adherence to European standards for non-EU competitors to ensure food safety and support the local watermelon industry. Additionally, the outdoor watermelon cultivation area in Levante Almeria is seeing a recovery after last year's decline caused by water scarcity, with efforts underway to ensure a seamless transition from greenhouse to outdoor production.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

In these first stages of the spring campaign as far as watermelon crops are concerned, the estimates carried out a few months ago by ASAJA-Almería are confirmed. In this way, extra-early production increases, doubling the surface area in relation to that of the previous campaign. In the agricultural region of Bajo Andarax and Campo de Níjar, the main greenhouse watermelon producing area, the first cuts are expected to be carried out after Easter. At ASAJA-Almería we see that, increasingly, Almería producers of this spring fruit are choosing to extend the production cycle. In this case, the advance of the transplants causes the production cost to decrease, benefiting from the weather, in addition to being able to start the sales period, with the first watermelon produced in the community, in a market with fewer competitors. On the other hand, the reduction of more than 10% in the cultivated area of watermelon for medium cycles in the Poniente area is also ...

Source: Diariodealmeria