Two prized local melons fetched a record price of 2.5 million yen for the pair during the season’s first auction at a wholesale market on Tuesday.

“I had expected Yubari melons would fetch a high price, but I didn’t expect the figure to be this high,” said a startled broker at the Sapporo City Central Wholesale Markets in Sapporo’s Chuo-ku.

The pair of melons, which weigh 3.9 kilograms in total, fetched the record price of 2.5 million yen after 100 melons were put up for auction on Tuesday.