Melon export season by country

Roughly September to March out of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará, aimed squarely at the European winter. Brazil is the melon origin for Europe in those months and there is not really a second one.

The whole programme depends on the short northern voyage. Melons bruise, respire fast and land with days rather than weeks in hand — the same fruit shipped from a Pacific-coast origin would not arrive saleable, which is why nobody tries.

Roughly December to April, out of Guanacaste, grown for the North American and European winter. This is the one genuinely seasonal thing on the Costa Rican calendar.

Melon and pineapple compete for the same reefer equipment in exactly these months, which is the practical reason a January booking out of Costa Rica is harder to get than a July one even though pineapple ships all year.

Roughly December to April out of the Pacific lowlands, on the same counter-season logic as the Costa Rican and Honduran crops.

Central American melon is a three-country programme that behaves as one market. When one origin has a weather event, the price moves for all three — which is worth knowing before treating a single-origin contract as a hedge.

Roughly January to April out of Choluteca, on the Pacific side, aimed at the North American winter.

The window is short and the fruit does not wait. A melon programme here is priced on landing in a specific month, so the cost of a week’s delay is not a storage charge — it is the difference between the winter price and the spring one.

Roughly May to September, on the same window as the watermelon and out of the same regions. Piel de Sapo is the Spanish variety; Galia and Cantaloupe are grown for export.

The Spanish window is the reason the Brazilian and Central American programmes end when they do. Once Spain is producing, there is no European market for a melon that spent three weeks at sea.