Strong consumer demand with increased retail pricing led to above average tray returns for growers
Piñata Farms has finalised its most commercially successful Honey Gold mango season to date, reporting a 5 per cent volume increase on the season before.
Sales and marketing manager Rebecca Scurr said the business supplied mangoes nationally for 16 weeks from November 2025 to February 2026 – about two weeks longer than usual.
The harvest from growing regions in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia was the least disrupted by weather in 17 years of production, she said.
“One of the biggest challenges we often face in Queensland during summer is that the main freight route, the Bruce Highway, is impacted due to cyclone or tropical low activity,” Scurr explained. “This season, while Mareeba and Dimbulah had a lot of rain, growers managed their harvests to ensure supply was unaffected. Ideal weather conditions also meant excellent external fruit quality could be maintained all season long.”
According to Scurr, Honey Gold received “exceptionally strong prices” and saw the biggest consumer demand on record, contributing to an above average tray return to growers.
“There was also small crop growth from our farms in the Northern Territory, and at third-party farms at Mareeba, Bowen and Rockhampton as trees came into full production,” she said.
Some 25 third-party growers supply to Piñata Farms which starts the harvest at its own farms in Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory in November.
“December is always tough for prices because it’s the peak of mango season and competition is heavy, but we were able to weather the storm that the whole industry faced and achieve a significant premium,” Scurr explained.
“One of our customers has been trying to retail (another mango variety) at A$20 a tray during Christmas week for 20 years and this was the first season he did it. It was a very good outcome for consumers.”
She said for Honey Gold, as it is a late-season variety, January is the time to shine.
“There’s less competition from other mangoes and prices reflect this,” Scurr said. “Honey Golds tasted incredible all season long, retail displays were excellent and all retail customers reported demand was up.”
She said consumer awareness of Honey Golds was also higher than ever after a new generation of consumers discovered the variety via her growing TikTok presence.
Scurr, who used TikTok to share mango content throughout the season, including varietal and harvest information, in-store, selecting and cutting tips, said anecdotally more than 2,000 of her 30,000 followers told her they had tried a Honey Gold mango for the first time.
“We have an experienced and committed growing group, proven ripening partners and an established customer base. Post-harvest, we now look at the variety itself and the nutritional nuances of each growing region to grow it even better,” Scurr said.
Piñata Farms will host its annual Honey Gold Congress in Yeppoon, Central Queensland on 21-22 April. Third-party growers will gather to celebrate the season’s success and share insights, and the company will announce the Honey Gold Grower of the Year award.
