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Why Isn’t Chocolate Cheaper?
May 25, 2026
Last week in Japan, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler paid a record ¥5.8 million (USD$36,487.28) for two of the 912 Yubari melons that bidders hoped to purchase at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market’s auction:
Japan’s Expensive Melons
Explaining the daily attention he gives to growing his melons, one farmer says he never takes a vacation. To be sure that they won’t share nutrients, he plucks multiple melons from the vine until just one remains. Then, in greenhouses that guarantee ideal growing conditions, he massages his melons to create perfect spheres and optimal netting. The criteria for the relatively few melons that make it to market are their roundness, netting intricacy, sweetness, and scent.
As a hybrid originally from two kinds of cantaloupe, the Yubari requires large differences between night and day temperatures:
Perhaps showing a farmer giving a “melon massage,” this image displays the care each one receives:
Our Bottom Line: Price Information
A buyer of a single Yubari King Melon could pay $300. Probably not for their own household, the purchase is most likely a gift, perhaps to a client or as an expression of gratitude. According to the Times of India, “Its sky-high prices are due to its insane sweetness, juicy orange flesh, and finely netted green rind.”
Hearing the $300 price tag, an economist would have an explanation. When supply and demand together determine a price through a free market, buyers find out what they need to know. On the demand side, price signals quality and can also indicate popularity. Meanwhile, for suppliers, price provides messages about land, labor, capital, and potential profits.
Through the price of a Yubari King Melon, the gift giver is able to say, “You are very special.”
So yes, price is a handy way to convey information.
My sources and more: Thanks to the BBC’s World Business Report podcast for alerting me to Japan’s melon auctions. That takes us to Reader’s Digest, Times of India, and UChicagoBite.
Our featured image is from Ikigai Fruits.
