Peruvian mango producers and exporters are at their wits end with another year of low mango production. This was mainly caused by adverse weather conditions that placed stress on the mango trees. They are hoping for a better season later this year, but for this the weather has to improve from the dry El Nino.
A large producer and exporter said, "The mango season in Peru is rough. The fruit is scarce, while prices to produce the fruit and prepare even one container is too high."
He says they are down by 70% of their normal volume, but hoping that it will balance out later this year during the new season. "The volume was 70% less. In November volumes will be high again."
Another large produce and exporter of mango's from Peru says they had a peak of three weeks of harvesting in weeks 3 to 6. "The arrival of this fruit was in weeks 7 to week 10. The main arrival peak was in week 9." The producer said Brazil has capitalised on the situation by exporting much more during the first two months of 2024. "The other situation is that Brazil was sending fruit all February, which they don't normally do. They sent up to nearly 70% more than the last year of mainly the Palmer variety. It is of less quality but at a lower price price than Kent."
Producers in Brazil said they do not traditionally send a lot of mangos to Europe during the first months of the year. Normally their domestic market in Brazil is strong while Peru sends to Europe. However, due to the lower volumes from Peru and higher prices it was much more lucrative for Brazilian producers to meet the demand in Europe while diverting mango's usually destined for the local market.
To add to the challenges for Peruvian producers the Panama Canal delays has been negative on the fruit arrival quality exporters say. "Peru has some quality problems, especially the fruit that has become over ripe due to the delays in the transit time caused by the Panama Canal problems. There were internal problems that are there too. The harvesting in week 9 was too low while week 10 was very very low. In this last week of February all our production was only 30 containers."
Carlos Ivan Vilchez Peralta, president of the Peruvian Association of Mango Producers and Exporters (APEM), and from the company Dominus, stated there's only two weeks to go until the end of the campaign, which saw 66.87% less exports. All they can do now is apply the lessons learned during pruning and preparing the mango trees for the next season.
For more information:
Peruvian Association of Mango Producers and Exporters (APEM)