The producer's only concern is the lack of rainfall that has been forecast for the end of the year - November or December. "During the last five years we've suffered many droughts that have affected our production and reduced it considerably," stated Altamir Martins, of the Finobrasa Agroindustrial SA company. In addition, the droughts affect the water reserves of the lakes used to irrigate the crops. This year, it didn't rain enough for the country to recover the necessary water levels.
According to the latest estimates, they will have to collect and use the water of the lakes as an extreme measure. At the moment, it's impossible to measure how this will affect the production volumes by the end of the year. Regarding water use, producers don't known if the government or the authorities will establish certain controls or systems to reduce water consumption in the different existing projects.
However, the quality of the fruits is very good because they have had a good flowering in general and few rains. The season will begin in late July and early August. It will increase until October, when production peaks until December, when it starts to decline. Despite the water problem, producers expect the season to be as long as in the last two years.
Since Mexico sends very few mangos to Europe and almost everything to the United States, producers have some competition in the US market and little competition in the European market. Last year, they had some problems in the market at the end of August and throughout September, although this year they do not have enough information to know if they'll have these problems again. However, they hope to start in August and estimate that the Market will only supply Brazilian mangos since September.
Both the US and European markets are important for Brazil. However, the windows to operate in both markets are very different. Brazil sends shipments of mangos to Europe, i.e. almost 70% of the total volume they ship, almost on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, the United States has a very small window because when Mexico stops shipping its mangos, the Ecuadorian product is about to arrive there be sold in October. This leaves the Brazilians with a two-month window. However short, producers think its worth it, as the US is a very attractive market and the quality of the Brazilian mango is exceptional, which reinforces its reputation.
For more information:
Altamir G. Martins
Director of Operations
FINOBRASA AGROINDUSTRIAL S.AGrupo Vicunha
T: +55 84 3335-2216
E: altamir@finoagro.com.br
www.finoagro.com.br