Israel's 2024 mango export season ended with volumes that were higher than last season, but still lower than the initial estimate. Nir Harel, Sales Manager at Galilee Export in Israel, notes, "This season our own harvest volumes were higher than last year, but about 20-25% less of what was expected."
He says their season was satisfactory, but the heat waves during summer is the big cause for the lower than estimated volumes they have seen. "The original plan of Galilee was to export about 4,000 tons but only 3,000 tons were exported. It is mainly due to the very hot weather during June, which effected the size of the fruit that was too small as a result. In general the season was just ok, we can't say it was excellent. The overall quality was decent to our main markets in Europe."
Harel notes further, "We increased our air shipment this year especially with the Maya and Omer varieties. A small quantity of our mangoes were shipped to Canada, with an insignificant amount that was sent by sea to Russia, other than that, everything goes to Europe, mainly to France, Germany and the UK."
They did not have the European market all to themselves. Brazil offered mangoes at lower prices too. "The only thing that affects our market in Europe is the arrivals from Brazil, which are usually lower priced than what we are trying to achieve to keep our growers alive. The prices are not high that we receive in Europe, it is just a bit over what we need to keep our growers alive," Harel points out.
The relative strength of Israel's currency, the Shekel, compared to the Euro can in some years be a big factor. "The Shekel was not high this year, but the year before the exchange rate was higher, that helped us to pay 10% more to growers. This year it was low and stable, it did not give us any advantage," states Harel.
He says as Galilee ended their mango export season in early September. "We ended the exports in week 36, about 10 weeks ago. Other exporters kept sending some mango by air to the European market. We don't have growers that can pick that late into the season," concludes Harel, as they turn their attention fully to Israel's avocado crop.
For more information:
Nir Harel
Galilee Export
Tel: +972 54-485-9354
Email: [email protected]
www.galilee-export.com