First Ivory Coast mangoes set sail for Europe

“The first harvest of Kent mangoes was Saturday 2nd of April and as we expected the fruits are small with more than 65% of them sizes 9/10/12,” according to Izam Afkir, Procurement Manager for Halls International.

This year the rains were not there to help the sizing of the mangoes and the high temperatures caused some flower drop leading to a fall in production.

Vidalkaha (literally translated from the Sénoufo dialect “Village of Vidal”) has been Halls’ main grower partner in the Ivory Coast for the last 6 years. The company was founded over 20 years ago by Mr Vidal Albert with his 2 children in the village of Sinématiali.

With 150 Ha of fully GlobalGap accredited mangoes from their own farms and more than 60 growers and 4 packing houses, Vidalakaha exports 3000 tonnes of air and sea fright mangoes each year. This season Vidalkaha is expected to export around 130 sea freight containers and 200 tons by air of top quality mango across a 6 week period (climate depending).

Since the very beginning, Vidalkaha’s priority has been to focus on fruit quality with their fully qualified technical team. Every step from flowering through to pre harvest, harvest, post-harvest, handling and packing is checked very carefully and perfectly controlled to guarantee optimum quality and maturity on arrival to ensure that the fruits are perfectly suitable for ripening.

Halls will receive their first mangoes on the 18th of April. 4kg and ripened pre-packed fruits will be available through their offices in France, Netherlands and the UK, meeting the needs of the European markets and programmes.

Halls has a year-around supply through their vertically integrated operations of farming, sourcing, ripening, packing, logistics and marketing.

For more information:
Izam AFKIR
Halls
Email: izam@hlhall.co.uk
www.hlhall .co.uk o www.halls.co.za