In 20 days of July, Montenegro exported two and a half million kilograms of watermelon to five countries for a total of 486 thousand euros, according to data from the Customs Administration.
According to these data, which refer to the period from July 10 to 31, a kilogram of watermelon exported was worth 19 cents.
The most watermelons were exported to Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost one and a half million kilograms for 285 thousand euros, followed by exports to Serbia of 675 thousand kilograms for 127 thousand euros, to Croatia of 283 thousand kilograms for 66 thousand euros.
Montenegrin watermelon reached Slovenia in the amount of 20,9 thousand kilograms for 3,7 thousand euros, and 21,5 thousand kilograms were exported to Bulgaria for 3,8 thousand euros.
Serbia is in second place in terms of Montenegrin watermelon exports, even though it is the leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP). Milan Knezevic announced at the beginning of July that after his request they were sent to the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić "The conditions have been created for Serbia to start purchasing this year's production of watermelons in the area of the Municipality of Zeta".
Knežević thanked Vučić for "saving the agricultural season" in the Municipality of Zeta.
"Zećani will never forget this brotherly act of help. I also express my gratitude to the minister To Tomi Momirović on technical support in the realization of the purchase", said Knežević in a statement that he published on his account on the X network.
"Vijesti" did not manage to get the statements of the watermelon producers from Zeta Municipality.
The Ministry of Agriculture told "Vijesta" that they do not yet have data on foreign trade exchange for the month of July 2024.
"Currently, we have data for the period January - June, and the export of watermelon in that period amounted, according to Monstat, to 176.628 euros or 613.974 kilograms, of which the largest export was recorded to Bosnia and Herzegovina (552.720 kg), followed by Serbia (40.574 kg) and Slovenia (20,680 kg). This Ministry will have data for the month of July 2024 at the beginning of September. During the period from July 1 to 15, the purchase price of watermelons was from EUR 0,10 per kilogram to EUR 0,25 per kilogram, while for the period from July 16 to July 31, the purchase price was from EUR 0,20 per per kilogram up to EUR 0,90 per kilogram", the Ministry announced to "Vijesta". Ma. M.
Dedvukaj: We are not satisfied with the purchase and support of the state
Zef Dedvukaj, one of the largest producers of watermelons from Tuzi, told "Vijesta" that problems with the purchase of watermelons continued this year and that they are very dissatisfied.
"This year's imported watermelon arrived earlier than ours and we were forced to give watermelon at 7-8 cents per kilogram. It's so cheap that we can't even cover the costs. We have nothing from the promise from the Municipality of Tuzi and the Ministry of Agriculture that they will help us... I invested 23.000 euros in production, and I'm already in the red about 11.000, I couldn't even recover half of the cost. Others have similar problems. In Tuzi, we have close to 30 producers whose watermelon was left in the garden because they had no one to sell it to...", said Dedvukaj.
The Ministry of Agriculture, as he stated, provides subsidies for irrigation, but this does not solve the problem.
"Not even the municipality helps. No one deals with the purchase, because if we had resolved that issue, everything would be fine. Traders won't take our goods because they can't give such a margin as on this one from imports, where they set the prices as they see fit. We in Tuzi produce between 350 and 400 tons. Traders underestimate us because they set the prices and are protected by the state while it does not protect us. "There is no purchase, no storage, no cold storage, as there was in the former Yugoslavia," said Dedvukaj.
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