Sales and bargaining of watermelon, a summer fruit have declined drastically in Mirzaganj Upazila of Patuakhli district in the recent week.
A large number of watermelons are being carried on Mini-trucks and vans to different markets and hats of the upazila for selling. Even, some are using hand microphones to draw the customers' attention to sell those but with a little effect.
The traders apprehended, it was unlikely that during the full season of Watermelon, they would incur a huge loss without getting sufficient customers for the fruit.
In recent times, traders are selling Watermelon by weighing those with the balances instead of selling those as per piece. Such a system of selling the fruit had angered the common buyers and they announced to boycott purchasing of watermelon. Aftermath of the announcement, the sales of watermelon declined in the local markets. After visiting various markets, this correspondent noticed a large number of watermelons were kept on mini-trucks, vans and elsewhere beside the road for selling. Using microphones, the traders were offering special discounts for the customers for the fruit. But, the sales did not seem to gear up. One small-sized Watermelon was available at Tk 50 to 60, one middle-sized was at Tk 80 to 100 and a large-sized was selling at Tk 200 to 250 as per weight in the local markets. Watermelon trader Dulal Mridha informed, Watermelon is a perishable fruit and one cannot store it for more than a couple of days. The customers are not interested in purchasing this juicy-sweet fruit even during Ramadan. So, he was selling the fruit even at a very low profit.
One customer requesting anonymity informed, they were unable to purchase the seasonal fruit earlier because of a high price. As the price has fallen recently, he purchased two watermelons on Thursday. He hoped a close market monitoring would aid in further fall of the price of watermelon and other seasonal fruits in the upazila and the district.