Challenging mango season keeps importers on their toes

Adverse climatic conditions and logistical problems are resulting in a challenging mango season for Dutch importer Trofi. After weeks of low supply due to El Niño-related production issues in Peru, a glut of fruit is expected to arrive in the next couple of weeks – but European demand is very sluggish according to senior import manager Marcel van Rooijen.

“We are facing an extremely complicated Peru mango season,” he told Fruitnet. “Due to almost no temperature differences during blooming time, the setting of the fruit was far lower than normal with up to 70 per cent less volume. This created a season delay of four weeks.

“Then, surprisingly, heavy rains in which also affected the quality and shelf-life of the fruit that had been harvested.”

Van Rooijen says early, limited volumes were picked for the US market, with the resulting European shortage causing prices to skyrocket. The problem was exacerbated by logistical issues which delayed arrivals by up to four weeks.

“We are now facing a huge bump of fruit within a time frame of just 14 days. In a normal market with promotions that should be no problem, but the high prices have caused consumption to slow right down.”

Despite the challenges, Trofi managed to keep on loading through January and February by relying on supply from Brazil.

Fortunately, he expects the situation to improve as other countries come on stream. “In 10 days the main supply from Peru will be over and Brazilian supply will take over. Then Côte d’Ivoire will start to export their Kent mango in week 16, and their volume should be around 40 per cent higher as the weather this year has been much better and they had enough rain to feed the trees.”