High temperatures stall Peru’s mango recovery

Mango producers in northern Peru hoping to see a recovery in the 2026/27 harvest have been dealt a blow following the hottest July on record.

According to agricultural specialist Milton Calle, flowering in the Piura region is failing to take off after last month’s high temperatures. Speaking to Agraria, he said the flowering rate as of 1 August remains at “around 10 per cent”, with little chances of significant improvement in the coming weeks.

“It is highly unlikely that we will reach 15 per cent,” Calle, said. “Temperatures did not improve in July; in fact, the month saw temperatures never before recorded for that time of year.”

Calle stressed that the picture was not uniform across different production zones, with some plantations showing flowering rates of 40 per cent and some with 0 per cent flowering.

He also pointed out that the 10 per cent flowering rate should not be interpreted as a 90 per cent drop in exports. He explained that calculations must account for the country’s actual planted area, which far exceeds official figures.

“Unofficially, the planted area in Peru is nearly 55,000ha; there are many undeclared hectares,” he noted. “If we apply that 10 per cent factor, we are looking at a production volume equivalent to 5,500 productive hectares; at an average yield of 14 tonnes per hectare, that would be roughly 77,000 tonnes of production.”

Fruit sizing is likely to be another factor in the upcoming season. According to Calle, when flowering rates are low, the predominant sizes are mainly 4s, 5s, and 6s, while sizes 10 and 12 disappear. This also skews the exportable volume, he explained.

Peru harvested 223,000 tonnes of mango in the 2025/26 mango season, 22 per cent less than in the previous season and 8 per cent below the 243,000 tonnes initially forecast.

Keyner Gamarra, president of national producer and exporter association Apem, said the fall was due to adverse climatic condition and the fact that plants were stressed after a record year.