While the prices of melon and watermelon fall by up to 70% in the field, in supermarkets they do not stop rising. In the last year, the prices of watermelon or melon stand at 2.23 euros and 2.41 per kilo, respectively. However, the farmer charges up to 11 times less than what the final consumer pays.
The sharp rise in the price of fruits such as watermelon or melon has not only triggered alarm among consumers, but the debate has even reached the Congress of Deputies, with a question last Wednesday from Gabriel Rufián (ERC) to the president of the Government.
But what is really happening? In the last year, due to the increase in supermarket costs, the prices of watermelon or melon have practically doubled, reaching 2.23 euros per kilo on average in the first case and 2.41 euros in the second. second. It is a rise that is not only not being transferred to the countryside, but has also caused a drop in consumption that is sinking the price paid to farmers.
According to Andrés Góngora, head of fruit and vegetables at the Coag agricultural union, “melon has gone from paying 1.05 euros per kilo in the field last May to only 0.30 euros, depending on the type and watermelon, which used to be paid at 0.87 is now being paid at between 0.10 and 0.30 euros”. In other words, the difference has widened and the farmer is already charging up to 11 times less than the price at which the supermarkets are selling the product.
Weather conditions
Góngora explains that “in May prices rose because production fell as a result of bad weather conditions, with heavy rains in agricultural areas where it usually does not happen, and phenomena such as the haze.”
Now, however, “due to the collapse in the consumption of watermelons or melons, which according to our estimates could have sunk by up to 50% due to the sharp rise in prices in stores, there is an excess supply at source that is causing much less is paid to the farmer”.
The cases of watermelon and melon are not, however, the only ones. The price difference between what is paid at source and in stores reaches 765% in the case of orange -1.47 euros per kilo in supermarkets and 0.17 in the field; it rises to 383% for pears -2.61 euros compared to 0.54- and up to 322% for nectarines -4.81 euros compared to 1.14 euros-.
In any case, the price of food has continued to climb unstoppably in recent months, which has brought the cost of the shopping basket to levels never seen before. In fact, staple foods are growing much faster than the CPI.
According to a study carried out by the Gelt payment platform, while the CPI for May rose 0.8% per month, products such as bread, bananas, flour or cereals rose 4.5%.
Gelt analyzes more than 800,000 tickets each month and has detected that the highest increases corresponded to foods such as bread (9.6%); bananas (8.6%); flour (7.6%); cereals (6.7%) and green beans (6.6%).
And the problem is that far from stopping, it seems that these rises are going to go further. And it is that the high temperatures that the Iberian Peninsula has endured during the months of May and June can reduce cereal production by up to 50% depending on the area, which would make production costs even more expensive.
All of this taking into account that, so far this year, as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and corn, 30% in international markets.
The Asaja agrarian union warned already in May, before the last heat wave, that in Spain due to high temperatures and lack of rain during the past month.
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