The Spanish mango harvest is underway in Malaga, where the peak in production will be reached this week. "Despite a rather difficult start because of the nearly one-week advance and the overlap with Israeli mangoes in European markets, the campaign is going quite well. Once the fruit arrives at the warehouse, it is sold right away, as long as it doesn't need to be ripened," explains Martina Otten, of Trops' commercial department.
Trops' producers account for approximately 45% of the Spanish mango production, which is concentrated in the Axarquia. This campaign, the Malaga-based company expects to harvest 10,000 tonnes of mangoes.
"At the moment, we have between 700 and 800 producers harvesting mangoes. The Tommy Atkins variety has already run out and there are small volumes left of the Irwin," explains Martina Otten. She assures that "the two varieties have been sold with great success, meeting the expectations of the customers."
"At the moment, we are harvesting the Osteen, our main variety, and the Kent, which is much appreciated in certain markets," she continues.
According to Martina Otten, the peak in the production of Osteen should be reached in the coming days. "The next and last varieties are going to be the Palmer and Keitt, with which we should start from weeks 41/42. We usually finish the bulk of our campaign between weeks 45 and 46, although some customers still continue with reduced volumes."
Trops sells its Osteen mangoes mostly on customer programs, which last for the entire campaign. Some then continue with the Keitt.
As for the calibres, Martina Otten points out that "until now, most of the Osteen distributed has been of calibres 6 to 8. Due to the high temperatures, the fruit is already arriving with a high brix and it is ripe in just a few days, with very homogeneous results."