70
Exportações brasileiras demelões frescos (2016)
AMARELINHO
Yellow
Ano
2015
2016
Variação
Valor (US$) Peso (Kg)
Valor (US$) Peso (Kg)
Valor Peso
Melões
154.298.760 223.746.193 148.741.470 224.688.423 -3,60% 0,42%
Fonte:Agrostat/MapaElaboração:SRI/CNA–Abrafrutas
Dreams
onthehorizon
Openingnewmarkets
abroadforBrazilian
melonshasbeenthe
drivingforcebehind
regularincreases
inproductionin
theCountry
M
elon production in Brazil
has been rising all the time.
While advances in the past
may have been more repre-
sentative, the supply chain
estimates a 10-percent increase a year over
the past growing seasons. This represents
about 2 thousand hectares a year. Current-
ly, according to sources from the Brazilian
Fruit Growers and Exporters Association
(Abrafrutas), 20 thousand hectares are de-
voted to the crop in the Country, and pro-
duction reaches 500 thousand tons.
According to the president of the enti-
ty, Luiz RobertoBarcelos, the productionof
melons ismainly concentraed in theNorth-
east, particularly in Chapada do Rio Apo-
di, at the borders between the States of
Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, but there
is also some production in Pernambuco
and Bahia. The leading producer in Brazil is
the State of Rio Grande do Norte, with 250
thousand tons, followed by Ceará, with 200
thousand tons. “These two States account
for 90%of the total amount of lemons pro-
duced in Brazil”, he explains.
In order to keep the numbers positive,
the institutional director at Agrícola Famosa
and director president of the Rio Grande do
Norte State Executive Fruticulture Commit-
tee (Coex) says that the sector has been fac-
ing water shortages. “We are going through
five years of below average rainfalls. As the
water comes fromundergroundwells, there
is a problem of soaring salt concentration
in the water that is drilled from ever deeper
wells”, Barcelos comments.
