The cost of growing watermelons in Russia struck

The watermelon season in Russia is at its peak. As industry studies show, melon growers do not waste time and delight us with abundance and assortment. There are square watermelons on sale, without seeds and with different colors of pulp. Choose to taste – if, of course, there is enough money. Such is the paradox: we have an overproduction of watermelons, and they sell it from the fields literally for a penny, but they still reach consumers at prices higher than last year.

According to preliminary data from market participants, this year the consumption of this berry will break all records. With an average watermelon weight of 6 kilos, the average Russian will eat a little more than 7 kilograms per season. Which is much more than in previous years.

True, the head of the Berry Union, Irina Koziy, suggests not to rush things, because the watermelon season has not yet ended, in the fields, that is, in the melons, the battle for the harvest continues. And while no one knows the final figures.

Statistics that love accuracy officially states that 673,000 tons of melons and gourds were harvested last year, which is 16% more than in 2020. That is, last year, 4.6 kilograms per person.

Probably not bad either, considering that melons are the same industry that is almost 100 percent Russian-made. And here everything came together for a high harvest, including hot weather, without rain. Only farmers specializing in the cultivation of watermelons and melons will remain at a loss.

“Last year, our goods were expensive,” a melon grower from the Astrakhan region told MK on condition of anonymity. – From the field they sold for 15-20 rubles a kilogram. We thought that this year it will also cost no less. And they planted everyone who could: peasants in their farms, and farmers, and even townspeople on their plots. Now their overproduction, prices have collapsed, and we would have to attach the harvest anywhere …

The owner of a small farm shop in the Moscow region said that at the end of July he was offered to buy watermelons in bulk from the Volgograd region at 6 rubles per kilogram. And in mid-August already … 1.5 rubles each. But to come to melon with a truck, that is, to transport products to Moscow at your own expense.

He, of course, refused such pleasure. The journey from Volgograd to Moscow for a heavy truck costs about 250 thousand rubles. “No, I’d rather sell potatoes and carrots,” our interlocutor summed up his story.

Indeed, watermelons are a specific product, perishable, they still need to be able to sell. And to have the collapse somewhere in a busy place, and they have all been “captured” in the capital region for a long time.

One way or another, while in some “melon” regions of the country – Volgograd, Astrakhan, Orenburg regions – producers are ready to give the harvest from the field for 1.5-2 rubles, in retail it, however, is not getting cheaper. In large supermarkets from 14 to 19 rubles per kilogram, in classic collapses and at all for 30-40 rubles. Traders call the reasons traditional for our time – the growth of transport costs, the complexity of logistics. Well, trade mark-ups “according to inflation” – where would we be without them … As a result, according to experts, even with overproduction, retail prices manage to exceed last year’s prices by 15-20 percent.

Farmers say that the success of melon growers is not really a success. Their breakthrough is evidence of the lack of forecasting of the agricultural market, the lack of plans. No one knows how many and what kind of crops need to be planted so as not to remain in the loser – once. And fill the trading shelves with products – two. Not to mention lowering consumer prices…

If we expect records from melon growers (although not planned), then for berries, a decrease in production is planned, especially for strawberries. The pessimistic forecast is 15-17 thousand tons this year. And optimistic, from the Berry Union, 18-20 thousand tons, at the level of last year.

However, as the paradoxical situation with watermelons shows, these figures still do not play a big price role. Growing berries is an industry that is heavily dependent on imports. According to Rosstat, in 2021 we purchased almost 80,000 tons of fresh berries and about 63,000 tons of frozen ones from other countries.

Here the agrarian department has summed up the planning, the forecast for the future. Given the small volumes of domestic production, in recent years, berry farms using modern technologies have been actively laid in Russia. Which in the near future could increase our harvest by 2-3 times and get rid of import purchases.

But most of the plans remained on paper. Due to economic sanctions, chemical plant protection products and mineral fertilizers have risen in price by 5-6 times. We buy both of these from imports.

In a word, in terms of berries, we will remain at the level of last year ..

– There is still hope that new farms will produce additional volumes of berries. But in the Central strip of Russia, frosts on the soil have already been noted, it is hardly worth waiting for an increase from planting in open ground, – says Irina Koziy.