The watermelon is extremely popular among Chinese consumers. The fruit can be prepared in a variety of ways and is often enjoyed as a light dessert. Consumer demand for watermelons rapidly grows during the summer months. The watermelon production season recently started, and Fan Zhiqiang of Yurun Watermelons gave an overview of the current watermelon market: "The Unicorn watermelons currently on the market come from production areas in Yunnan. The production season in Yunnan began in late February and will continue until the middle of May. At the same time, production areas in Guangxi supply Black Beauty watermelons, Myanmar supplies Sweet King watermelons, and additional watermelon supply comes from Laos. However, these watermelons are aimed at different segments of the consumer market. Unicorn watermelons are aimed at high-end markets. The product quality of watermelons from Yunnan is much better than watermelons from Myanmar."
"As for the price, Unicorn watermelons from Yunnan cost 3-3.3 yuan [0.45-0.49 USD] per 0.5 kg between late February and March 24th. In late March the price began to fall toward 2.7 yuan [0.40 USD] per 0.5 kg. Product variety is of course an important factor in the price of watermelons. Large watermelons are generally cheaper than small ones, but because the Unicorn watermelons are relatively expensive, smaller watermelon varieties are cheaper per individual melon and quite popular.
Consumers mostly buy small watermelons, and the supply of large watermelons is quite slow. Take a large, 6.5 kg watermelon for example, most fruit shops sell a watermelon like that for 5.8-6.8 yuan [0.86-1.01 USD] per 0.5 kg, which means that the entire watermelon costs around 70-85 yuan [10:43-12.66 USD]."
"It is our understanding that the overall production volume of watermelons increased this year. The main reason for this development is the flourishing watermelon market, which encourages farmers to expand the surface area for watermelon plantation. The overall market conditions are not at all bad this year."
