"A good mango season, but with its share of logistical challenges." That's how Joep Jongmans of Special Fruit describes the current Peruvian season. "The contrast is stark compared to last year when there were hardly any mangoes available. Fortunately, things are very different now, and overall, we can speak of good quality and renewed market interest."
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"Last year was a disastrous season," Joep explains. "There were no mangoes because Peru experienced the lowest harvest in the last 20 to 30 years. That made the market very challenging during January, February, and March, which also dampened interest and consumption during those months. Fortunately, this season is a completely different story. Demand and consumption have returned, and quality is generally very good. We see this not only in Belgium but also in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, and France, where demand is similarly strong, which is a positive sign."
Still, this season has brought its fair share of challenges, says the trader. "Both in Peru and in Europe, getting everything in on time has proven quite difficult. The Peruvian mango season started early this year, so the November/December harvest overlapped with grapes and blueberries. This caused a shortage of packing materials in Peru, and logistically, transporting everything from the fields to the packing stations was a challenge. Additionally, the overlap of different harvests created a shortage of containers, which meant that fewer mangoes were exported than were available, especially at the start of the season."
"These challenges persisted throughout the season," Joep continues. "One moment there were enough containers, the next there weren't. On top of that, we had three to four weeks of heavy fog in January, which disrupted ship handling at the port of Rotterdam. And we're still seeing that Rotterdam simply lacks capacity. Sometimes a ship has to wait two to three days out on the North Sea before there's space to unload at the port, with all the consequences that brings. Especially with mangoes, you have a tightly coordinated supply plan. When delays occur, availability fluctuates—too much one week, too little the next. That kind of volatility isn't good for the market either, but it's something we've been seeing continuously over the past few weeks."
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He expects these problems to continue in the final weeks of the season. "This week we may have sufficient volumes arriving again, but next week there will be far fewer. We're also heading towards the end of the Peru season, so availability is already declining week by week. Some exporters have already stopped, and some importers are no longer dealing with Peruvian mangoes. There's still a bit of supply from Brazil, but those volumes aren't large either. Moreover, toward the end of the Peru season, the later mangoes from the Casma region are mostly larger sizes. Smaller sizes are now barely available, so we'll definitely see a shortage there in the coming weeks. On the other hand, demand is strong and will remain so in the coming weeks. Easter is always a good sales period for mangoes, which pushes prices up. Prices will therefore remain somewhat higher."
That will be the case at least until the transition to the Ivorian season. "However, the first new crop from Côte d'Ivoire won't arrive until mid or late week 16 at the earliest. The first arrivals may come before Easter, but they'll be too late to ripen and get into stores before Easter, so it won't be until the second half of April. Then we move into May and June when Ivory Coast traditionally dominates the market."
For more information:
Joep Jongmans
Special Fruit
Europastraat 36
2321 Meer, Belgium
Tel: +32 3 315 07 73
info@specialfruit.be
www.specialfruit.be