Demand for 'timun suri' low due to rain

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For Jakartans, one of their favorite fruits to break the fast is timun suri, a kind of melon widely available during Ramadhan.

The fruit is usually served with ice and syrup to make a sweet thirst quencher for breaking the fast.

Demand for timun suri usually starts two days prior to the holy month. The fruit can be found in markets and sidewalk stalls.

The vendors usually get their supplies from farmers from Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta; Parung, West Bogor; and Cirebon, West Java.

In Kebon Jeruk and Parung, the farmers do not only supply vendors in Jakarta. They also open stalls beside the roads connecting the suburbs to the capital, hoping that motorists will buy their harvests.

These farmers, who usually plant vegetables, grow timun suri at a certain time so the fruit can be harvested prior to Ramadhan.

However, farmers and vendors this year will likely experience a slump in sales of the fruit.

"The demand for timun suri is surprisingly small. I used to sell the fruit for Rp 2,000 (23 U.S. cents) per kilogram at the beginning of the fasting month. Now I have to sell them for only Rp 1,000 per kilogram," Zaenal, a farmer from Kebon Jeruk, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Zaenal and his fellow farmers in the area blamed the arrival of rainy season for the drop in sales.

"Rain has made the weather cooler so Muslims who fast don't have such a strong thirst anymore. That's why they reduced their consumption of timun suri as a thirst quencher," he said.

Sondari, a vendor in Bendungan Hilir traditional market, Central Jakarta, echoed the complaints.

"You can see that only a few timun suri have been sold today," he said, pointing to a pile of the fruit.

The vendor, who came from Cirebon with around 300 kilograms of timun suri, said that some of his fruit had started to turn sour.

"When the fruit's skin starts to break, it means it is starting to decay and we have no choice but to throw it away," he said.

The reduced demand has forced him to sell the fruit at Rp 1,000 per piece, around a kilogram, down from the usual price of Rp 2,000.

"The profit will barely cover the cost of transporting the fruit to the city."