September continues to break anti-records for domestic producers of melons - the prices for watermelon, according to EastFruit analysts, as a month earlier, remain at one of the lowest levels among other countries monitoring the project. And although the end of last week showed an insignificant upward price trend for the Ukrainian watermelon - its average wholesale price increased from 0.8 UAH / kg ($ 0.030) at the beginning of the previous week to 1.0 UAH / kg ($ 0.038) - still this price range doubled less than the cost of production for the same period of 2019 and 2020.

Note that against this background, the average price of a watermelon on the Russian market has remained stable for 2 weeks and amounts to 10 rubles / kg ($ 0.14). The situation is similar in Belarus - here the average wholesale price of a watermelon is in the range of 0.65 bel. rub / kg ($ 0.26). In the same period, the price offer on the Georgian market, on the contrary, demonstrates an increase from 0.4 lari / kg ($ 0.13) to 0.7 lari / kg ($ 0.23).

As EastFruit previously reported, the current situation on the Ukrainian watermelon market is characterized by the lowest prices over the past four seasons against the backdrop of a fairly large crop harvest, even despite the difficult weather conditions of spring - early summer, which developed in the main producing region - the Kherson region.

At the same time, local farmers note that today they cannot sell their products in wholesale even at a price of 0.3-0.5 UAH / kg ($ 0.011-0.019) - the cost is half the cost of watermelon production.

So, the manufacturer from the Kherson region Nikolai Moiseenko notes that this year he invested about 300 thousand hryvnias ($ 11,275) in the field of bashtans. At the same time, the proceeds from the sale of Talisman watermelons amounted to only UAH 100,000 ($ 3,758).

“Of the 6 hectares sown by us in the spring, at the moment we have managed to sell products only from an area of ​​3.5 hectares, even though the melon season in Ukraine has shifted by about 3 weeks due to the cold spring and early summer. We are ready to give the rest of the harvest from the field free of charge, but those who will independently take out the products have not yet been found, "the producer notes, adding that most likely he will have to plow (plow) the field along with the remaining part on it during the autumn cultivation of the field. harvest.

Nikolay Moiseenko also adds that at the moment watermelons are already beginning to overripe, and there are many more sellers than buyers in local wholesale markets.

Note that, according to market players, large farms sold their crops, as a rule, in full, as they had pre-signed contracts for supplies to retail chains.

“Based on this situation, small and medium-sized producers of watermelons in Ukraine should follow the example of large farms, namely: cooperate to create consignments and look for a buyer for their products even at the stage of melon planting,” says a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO ) Katerina Zvereva.

The FAO consultant also adds that in order to find buyers for their product, watermelon growers should do market research and marketing efforts to find buyers. “After all, growing something for which there is a long-term demand is the right strategy for a producer of fruits and vegetables. Otherwise, small and medium-sized producers remain in a disadvantageous position with the volume of goods that they cannot sell, ”notes Katerina Zvereva.

According to Katerina Zvereva, a producer of fruit and vegetable products, in particular, watermelons, gives income to a large number of people - suppliers of seeds, technologies, plant protection products, their workers in the fields, processors, retailers and traders. “But in fact, without systemic marketing and reliable sales channels, he becomes a hostage of the situation - when you need to settle accounts with workers, service providers, but there is no sales, or the price offered by the market does not cover the farmer's costs for the production of the product,” summarizes the FAO consultant.

Recall that this year a giant watermelon was grown in the Kherson region