Iranian watermelons are expected to flood the Bulgarian market in the summer, as their price, taking logistics costs into account, will be really low, predicts Alexander Yotsev, board member of the Bulgarian Industrial Association and executive director of the Union of food business operators in Bulgaria.
The import is expected to start long before the Bulgarian production is ripe, because of the warmer climate in the Asian country, he warned.
Iran is one of the world's top three watermelon producers. The country has a highly developed agriculture, with growers receiving higher subsidies for their products. The symbolic price at which they are sold may allegedly be a way to prevent accusations against Tehran for the product's dumping on the continent.
Earlier this year, the European Union removed the economic sanctions against Iran, which had been imposed because of the country's nuclear program. Thus, access to European markets has eased, so we should expect not only cheap watermelons, but also all kinds of fruits and vegetables thriving in subtropical climates, said Yotsev.
This will be yet another hit for Bulgarian melon and watermelon producers, who were already affected by cheap imports from Greece. Many local growers have already discontinued the production, because it is labour intensive and revenues are steadily falling.
Agricultural statistics show that, about ten years ago, watermelons were planted on 48,014 acres and melons on 22,675 acres. In 2014, however, Bulgaria's watermelon acreage has dropped to 28,610 acres and the number of acres devoted to melons has dropped by more than 4 times, down to a symbolic 4,820 acres. Furthermore, yields are also 38% lower.
