Demand for Israeli mangoes is on the rise

The Israeli mango season is about to start with good volumes. “Our mango season will start a bit earlier, because we’re going to export mangoes from the Arava dessert for the first time ever this year. This region starts producing a bit earlier than we’re used to with our mangoes from around the Sea of Galilee,” Nir Harel from Galilee says. “Because of this earlier product, our season will start in week 25 or 26, late-June, in small quantities.”

Market
Nir continues: “We export to many countries, but France is our main market for ready-to-eat mangoes. Other than that, we export to the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Russia, Canada, the Far East and South Africa.” In total, Israel exports about 20,000 tonnes, and Galilee exports about 6,000 tonnes. “Our main competitors are Senegal, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Towards the end of our season, Spain enters the market.”

Maya variety

Ready-to-eat
Galilee has a ripening facility in France. “We can use this for the ready-to-eat mangoes, but some customers prefer tree-ripened mangoes. Then we ship it by air. In other cases we can also start the ripening process during the shipment by reefer, so that it will be ready-to-eat when the mangoes arrive. Ready-to-eat is an added value, customers are looking for it and we can provide it to them in different ways. As long as there’s a market for it, we’ll sell ready-to-eat,” Nir concludes.

Ready-to-eat is usually packed in 6-kilogram boxes, but this year Galilee will also do a 3-kilogram box, which will have a nicer presentation.

For more information:
Nir Harel
Galilee Export
Tel: +972 365 39 015
Mob: +972 54 485 9354
nir@galil-export.com
galilee-export.com