The manager of the Peruvian Association of Producers and Exporters of Mango (EMPA), Juan Carlos Rivera Ortega, stated that, since the start of the 2016/2017 mango season, i.e. from week 40 (September 26) until week 50 (December 11), Peru exported 949 tons of fresh mangoes (each container contains 20 tons).
Rivera Ortega also said that nearly 70% of all the mango shipped was sent to Europe, 25% to the United States, and the rest to other destinations.
He also said that, to date, virtually all the packing plants and the hot water treatment plants for Europe, the United States, China, Chile, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, had are already been certified, so that activity in the industry was working at its full capacity.
Furthermore, he said, this is the second season in which Peru has exported fresh mango to South Korea. "We are shipping significantly more fruit when compared to last season. There are four packing plants that are producing mango for that market," he stated.
Juan Carlos Medina said that due to the presence of the phenomenon of La Niña, which has caused an absence of rains in the region, they didn't know how many tons of fresh mango Peru would export by the end of the campaign in March 2017. According to projections made in September this year, Peru was going to ship 138,000 tons of mango, but due to recent events that number will change.
"At some point we thought that a continued lack of rain could endanger the trees, however it has started to rain softly, which gives us some reassurance that the crops won't be affected but this campaign's production will decrease," he concluded.