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The hot summer is the season for eating watermelons to cool down. But recently many people have found that the price of watermelons has increased.

According to Upstream News, recently some melon farmers in Zhongwei City, the main production area of ​​selenium sand melon in Ningxia, raised prices and broke contracts, which attracted attention. One melon farmer even raised the price to the melon dealers, "increasing the price by 5 cents per catty."

On August 12, Chongqing resident Mr. Chen told reporters about the watermelon prices he saw in the supermarket. "Watermelons are becoming unaffordable now. Ningxia selenium sand melons are around 2.5 yuan per pound, and they were only 1.5 yuan last month. The price has increased by 1 yuan per pound."

Watermelon prices rise

Consumers complain: Can’t afford it

According to Wenzhou Daily, on August 14, when the reporter visited supermarkets such as Walmart and Century Lianhua in the city, as well as fruit stores such as Mantanghong, Chengxin Fruit Forest, and Guoranduo, he heard many citizens who were about to buy watermelons complain, "Watermelons are so expensive recently, we can't afford them."

The reporter saw in many fruit stores that the watermelons on the market are mainly from Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Hainan and other places. Among them, Ningxia selenium sand watermelon is relatively cheap, with a retail price of 1.98 yuan to 2.98 yuan per catty. The most expensive are the Little Bee Kirin Watermelon and the Red Gold Watermelon, both at 6.98 yuan per catty.

There are three kinds of watermelons on sale in the fresh fruit shop. The most expensive one is the seedless Qilin watermelon from Gansu Province, which costs 5.8 yuan per kilogram. Photo by Chen Jia (Photo source: Temperature News)

Mr. Wu spent a long time looking at the watermelon section of Happy Shopping Supermarket and chose a slice of Kirin melon at 5.78 yuan per catty. He spent 36.09 yuan to buy half a slice. "Although the supermarket's selenium sand melon is only 2.58 yuan per catty, I still think Kirin melon tastes better."

"A month ago, seedless Qilin melons cost more than 3 yuan per pound, but now they cost more than 5 yuan per pound." The owner of a fruit store in Wansui Village in the urban area said that although watermelons would increase in price in August in previous years, it feels like the price has increased too fast this year, as if the price suddenly increased in the past half month, and the increase was large.

"The price of watermelon has really gone up too much recently." A staff member of a Mantanghong chain store said that many customers came to complain that watermelon was too expensive recently and turned to buy grapes, cantaloupes, winter dates, peaches, plums and other fruits.

According to data from the Wenzhou Fruit Wholesale Market, which is owned by Zhejiang Dongri Co., Ltd., in August, the wholesale price of 8424 watermelons in the Wenzhou Fruit Wholesale Market was 1.7-2.3 yuan per catty, and the wholesale price of Meidu Kirin seedless watermelons was 3.2-4.3 yuan per catty. Two months ago, the lowest wholesale price of 8424 watermelons was only 0.8 yuan per catty, and the lowest wholesale price of Meidu Kirin seedless watermelons was only 1.4 yuan per catty.

In other areas, watermelon prices have also risen.

According to Xiamen Evening News, the reporter visited many supermarkets and fruit stores recently and saw that watermelon prices have generally risen. Among them, Qilin watermelon is about 10 yuan/kg, and sweet watermelon and so-called "specially selected" and "fine" watermelon are close to 12 yuan/kg. The unit price has increased by about 2 yuan compared with the same period last month, and doubled compared with June.

"Last week, I bought Kirin melon for 9 yuan per kilogram, but now it's 11 yuan. Why has it increased so much?" Mr. Huang was puzzled. He said that watermelon is a common fruit in his family in summer. When it was first put on the market this year, it was very cheap, only about 4 yuan per kilogram. Now the price has risen too fast, and he can't afford it. "I picked 1/5 of a watermelon to cut it, and it cost 17.7 yuan."

According to Upstream News, the Chongqing Agricultural Information Center website showed that the average wholesale price of watermelons at Jiangjin Shuangfu Fruit Market was 4 yuan per kilogram on the 12th. Monitoring data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that from August 1 to August 8, the average wholesale price of watermelons across the country showed an overall upward trend, rising from 2.89 yuan per kilogram to 3.31 yuan.

The picture shows watermelons sold in a supermarket (data map/China News Weekly)

It is difficult to reduce the price of watermelon

It may rise further

Why are watermelon prices rising? Mr. Jie, who sells fruit at Xiamen Zhongpu Fruit Wholesale Market, said that the current watermelon price changes are mainly affected by supply and demand.

Watermelon is one of the fruits with the largest planting area in my country, and is planted in many provinces. Generally speaking, the production areas mature in order from south to north. "The temperature in most cities in China is still high, and consumers' demand for watermelons has not decreased, but watermelons in many major production areas have entered the end of the season." Mr. Jie said that watermelons in provinces such as Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Shandong have been off the market, and the supply on the market mainly comes from production areas such as Gansu. The supply of watermelons in these production areas is relatively small, which has led to changes in the supply and demand relationship in the market, thereby pushing up the price of watermelons.

"At this time of year in previous years, some production areas still had some 'leftover' watermelons, which alleviated the pressure of supply and demand to a certain extent. However, this year, due to the influence of rain, hail and other weather conditions, the quantity and quality of these 'leftover' watermelons have declined, and water-soaked and over-ripe watermelons are prone to appear. Many fruit merchants are unwilling to take the risk to purchase them." Mr. Jie said. In addition, the low price of watermelons last year led to a decline in the enthusiasm of fruit farmers to plant watermelons, and the planting area in some production areas has decreased this year. Under the combined effect of these factors, the price of watermelons has risen significantly recently.

Mr. Jie predicts that it will be difficult for watermelon prices to fall in the future and they may remain the same or rise further.

In addition, according to Upstream News, Mr. Peng, a watermelon wholesaler at Chongqing Shuangfu Market, said: "Compared with the past few days, there may be some room for price increases. Even if Northeast melons enter the market in the future, the price may not fall much." Regarding the sales of watermelons, Mr. Peng said: "The price of watermelons has risen, and sales have been partially affected, but the school season is coming soon, and the demand for bulk is strong. The market can still absorb this wave of price trends."

Some melon farmers tore up contracts and raised prices

It is worth noting that in Ningxia, due to the increase in watermelon prices, watermelon farmers unilaterally tore up the contracts even though they had signed them with watermelon dealers, and stated that the dealers needed to pay more, otherwise they would not be able to take the watermelons away.

It is reported that Wu Ge is a purchaser for a well-known fruit chain store in Guangdong. On August 4 alone, Wu Ge encountered three price increases of selenium sand melons in one day. When he got up in the morning, the melon price had risen from 1.2 yuan per catty the day before to 1.3 yuan; when he went to the field to check the melons, the farmers said it was 1.4 yuan; at 3 pm, it was 1.5 yuan.

Among the 14 truckloads of watermelons that Wu Ge collected this year, the price for one order had already been negotiated: "0.85 yuan per pound. I'll buy two truckloads. The first truckload has already been loaded. When I was preparing to load the second truckload, the farmer simply said he didn't want to sell it."

It was not until two days later that Wu found a new melon truck, but the price had risen to 1.05 yuan. But he was already very satisfied, because the local melon price had risen to 1.25 yuan the day after the contract was signed.

Selenium sand melons ready to be loaded onto a truck in Zhongwei, Ningxia, photographed by Yu Yuan (Photo source: China News Weekly)

From August 3 to 5, we visited several selenium sand melon producing areas in Zhongwei and found that many farmers raised prices on the spot after signing the contract.

On social media, price hikes and breach of contract are the most criticized points for Ningxia melon farmers this year. However, local melon farmers do not understand this: "How can a price hike be considered a breach of contract?"

During the visit, many farmers gave similar explanations when they still demanded a price increase after signing the contract. One melon farmer said that the contract had no legal effect. "First, it was not fair and just. The penalty standards on both sides were obviously different. Secondly, agricultural products should follow the market. If the melon price has increased, shouldn't you increase yours?"

Xu Yong, chief scientist of the cantaloupe industry technology system, believes that it is not reasonable to put all the blame for breach of contract on melon farmers, because it is common for merchants to cancel orders. "It is indeed difficult to abide by the spirit of the contract in agricultural product sales."

It is reported that some merchants and agents are not in a hurry to take the melons away after signing the contract, not only because they are too busy, but also because of speculation. "Agricultural products are like futures. If the price drops, the melons will be sold, and the deposit is not much anyway; if the price rises, the melons can be sold to other merchants to make a profit," explained a merchant.