“Peru sees mango price war as prices are going up by the day”

Overview of mangos from Peru in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on December 15, 2023.

Due to the shortage of mangoes in Peru, a price war has started with many producers offering the fruit to the highest payer say exporters from this country. “The season is getting more complicated by the day. There is a price war and prices are increasing almost daily,” according to Ana Cotrina, a commercial specialist from the exporter Añay Peruvian Fruits.

The shortage of mangoes in Peru had been expected ahead of the 2023 season due the ongoing effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon. It has affected the flowering of the majority of Peru’s mango orchards. Before the warmer winter the heavy rains the farms received from the Yaku cyclone in late February and early March. This was followed by the hot weather during this last quarter of El Niño. Peru has 8,500 containers less this season due to this according to experts.

Understandably producers have labour and a host of other inputs costs to recoup. “For example, for fruit by sea, the price started with 4 soles per kg and now it’s 6-7 soles. For mango by air, now a kilogram is almost 12 soles. Not all customers can handle the prices we give them and we understand the situation, because if there is another cheaper fruit, people will prefer to buy that one instead of mangoes. Also another problem we have in the fields is that the growers want to sell all sizes at the same price and for Europe, sizes 13-14 is not profitable,” states Cotrina.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Añay Peruvian Fruits export fresh products such as mangoes, avocados and asparagus from Peru. Their administrative office is in Lima, with a mango processing facility in Tambogrande, Piura at the packing house Interfruits. The company has a 19 hectare farm in Tambogrande, and work hand-in-hand with small and big growers in Piura and Casma.

“The product is becoming scarce, the worrying thing is that there is not much fruit left for destinations in Asia that require hot water treatment, all that is harvested is mainly destined for Europe. Also, the airfreight cost increased this month, for example, to Madrid before we had a rate of $1.55 per kg and now it’s $1.80 per kg, but the good thing is the airlines are giving us the option of having spot rates. But well, here we are, pushing this season, trying to supply our customers,” says a hopeful Cotrina.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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