Japanese melon pair sold for $45,000

In a record sale on Friday, a pair of Japanese melons have fetched more than $45,500.

Grown in Yubari, Hokkaido Prefecture, a northern Japanese city, Kyodo news reported that the melons were sold for 5 million yen in the season's first auction.

"The price bid at a Sapporo wholesale market beat the all-time high of 3.2 million yen paid in the first auction of Yubari melons last year,” the report said.

This kind of melon, known as cantaloupe or spanspek, is popular for its soft juicy orange-colored flesh as well as its high sugar content.

Cantaloupes usually range in weight from 0.5 to 5 kilograms (1.1 to 11 pounds).

The report said the melons are usually sold for prices between 4,000 yen ($36) and 10,000 yen ($91) each and are often given as gifts.

Nagoya-based Pokka Sapporo Food Beverage Ltd. was declared the successful bidder.

The company said it decided to make the bid as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the release of its melon-flavored soda water.

"As our company was founded in Sapporo[, Hokkaido], I had been thinking there must be something I can do for Hokkaido," said its President Yoshihiro Iwata.