The hot summer weather arrived in Uzbekistan a week earlier than usual, giving the country the opportunity to start the export of watermelon in the first 10 days of May, around a week earlier than usual.
In the past two weeks, 30,000 tonnes of the fruit, worth $6.5mn, have been shipped, up nine-fold y/y, or 12-fold versus May 2021. The performance has set an all-time record, according to EastFruit analysts.
More than 99% of the export volume was consigned to countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), with the bulk going to EEU members Kazakhstan and Russia.
According to economist Andriy Yarmak, last year Uzbekistan exported 74% of its watermelons during June. By the end of June this year, total exports shouldl reach 90,000 tonnes, forecasts indicate.
In 2022, Uzbekistan exported 81,800 tonnes of watermelon worth $18.1mn.
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