TOKYO (Sputnik) – A pair of premium Yubari melons fetched 2.7 million yen ($24,800) at this year’s first watermelon auction in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, 22.5 times higher than the winning bid for the last year’s premium fruit, media reported on Monday.

According to the Kyodo news agency, this year’s bid was won by Hokkaido Products Ltd., a local manufacturer of baby food, that plans to offer the melons for free to 10 selected families with children via its social media accounts.

“I put in a bid hoping to encourage farmers,” the company’s head, Iori Kage, was quoted as saying.

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