‘First Italian watermelons expected at the end of next week’

The season of (water) melons from the northern hemisphere starts at the same time as the large quantities of Spanish stone fruits. Although certain melon varieties are already sourced from the usual European growing areas like Spain, Portugal and Italy, one can still find watermelons from other origins on the German wholesale markets. Imports from countries like Morocco and Iran will supplement the current supply until the Italian season starts.

Purchaser Mercan at his stall in the Hamburger Großmarkthalle

Iranian import melons
In Hamburg's wholesale market hall one can currently find a colorful collection of regional strawberries, stone fruits and other tropical fruits such as (water) melons. At the sales booth of Meypa Handelsgesellschaft GmbH, the usual summer products are present as well. "We are currently marketing large quantities of seedless watermelons, as well as apricots for a few weeks. We bought our melons from Panama and Costa Rica until recently. At the moment we mainly have watermelons from Iran and Morocco,” said purchaser Ahmet Mercan.

Bouquet melons in the warehouse of Meypa GmbH

In contrast to Morocco, Iran is a relatively new import area for Western Europe and the German traders in particular, not least because transport from the Middle East takes up to two weeks before the products actually arrive on the Hamburg sales area. As a result, the quality of the Iranian goods is often slightly less and the sales window is significantly shorter compared to southern European products. Due to the high transport costs of Iranian goods, the Italian produce is slightly cheaper as well. However, the season of Italian watermelons will start soon. Mercan: “From the 1st of June we expect the first shipments; a little earlier than last year. The season will probably last until the end of August, at least for us.”

Fresh products of all kinds
Meypa Fruchtgroßhandel GmbH has been based at the Hamburg wholesale market for several years now, with its own sales booth. The trading company supplies a wide variety of customers within and outside the Hamburg area with fresh produce of all kinds. The company markets large quantities of exotic and tropical fruits as well as regional strawberries of the Elsanta variety.

Watermelons from the Middle East in the company warehouse of Meypa GmbH

For more information:

MEYPA Fruchtgroßhandel GmbH

GF: Serdar Kenc

Banksstr. 28, 20097 Hamburg

Großmarkt Hamburg Stand 136-158

Telefon: +49 40 30376300

Fax: +49 40 30376301

Mobil: +49 151 44351270

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web: www.meypa-frucht.de