Pricing expected to stay strong on mangoes

Mango supplies are tight and will likely stay that way for the near future. “Brazil has been shipping the lion’s share of its fruit to Europe because Europe does not need hot water treatment so the expenses are less when you don’t have to do that. European demand is also really good,” says Jesse Garcia LA Produce Distributors.

Brazil, whose volume has been affected a bit by the weather this season, is shipping some red mangoes to the East Coast shippers in the U.S., though not as much volume as needed. “So the market has been double digits here in the last couple of weeks and it’s going to stay that way until Ecuador starts,” says Garcia, adding that the quality is a bit rough right now on fruit which isn’t surprising given the weather challenges.

Ecuador has already started shipping yellow mangoes and this week is starting to pack red mangoes too. “Though they are behind in volume. They have major issues because of El Nino weather so their crop is 30 percent of normal,” Garcia says. “Big volume won’t start until the first or second week in November. So while we’ll see more fruit then, it won’t be as much as last year.”