The country began its harvest of mango for export with good prospects for the sector, which has the goal of achieving or surpassing the exports of 13,627,137 boxes of 4 kilos they shipped abroad in the 2016 -2017 campaign.
Sergio Cedeño, the president of the Ecuadorian Mango Foundation, said that, even though the harvest had began two weeks late, this year's climate had helped the crops have a good flowering and fruiting, as there hadn't been too much luminosity or very low temperatures. "The production has not been affected by the weather. We are actually going to have a good harvest and excellent quality because of a lack of rains. There are years in which it rains in September, October or November and that affects the fruit," he said.
At present the country has are around 5,300 hectares of the Tommy Atkins (about 60%), kent, ataulfo, keitt, haden and madan francis mango varieties that are suitable for export, the latter two on a smaller scale.
According to union data, Ecuadorian mango exports grew by 19.60% in 2016 compared to 2015, when the country shipped 11,394,153 cases of 4 kilos, and 37.2% compared to 2009, when the country exported 9,930,392 boxes of the same weight.
"This is partly due to the fact that a lot of fruit was going to Colombia before, but since Colombia didn't import so much fruit last year because of its monetary situation, exporters sought other markets," said the head of the Ecuadorian Mango Foundation.
Cedeño added that 90% of the Ecuadorian fruit was sent to the United States, and the remaining 10% to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, and China, via air shipments. Sonildo Dantas Dos Santos, the general manager of CCMangos SA, one of the haciendas that is in full harvest, which is located in the precinct of Safando, at km 52, via Santa Elena, said the weather had had an impact on this activity and that as a result the harvest had begun three weeks late. "At first there were more rains than usual. It usually rains 600 millimeters on average at the farm, but this year it rained 1,200 millimeters. That affected us a lot, and now the weather is colder than last year so the fruit takes more time in the tree to reach its harvest point," he said.
As a result, Dantas Dos Santos said, they will have fruit until the beginning of January 2018, which "isn't good because it coincides with the beginning of the Peruvian harvest," which could lead to a fall in the fruit's price.
The CCMangos hacienda has 460 hectares devoted to the tommy atkins, kent, and ataulfo varieties and produces 1.2 million 4 kg boxes, which are exported to the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
There is little interest in investing in this productive sector
Years ago, Ecuador had some 10,000 hectares devoted to mango for export. Unfortunately the area has decreased because of low international prices, a lack of new markets, bad varieties, and the trouble some haciendas had to meet their credit obligations. As a result, the country currently has 5,300 hectares devoted to this crop. Cedeño believes that there's little interest in investing in mango planting because it is a very difficult crop, as it takes four to five years to produce, and because there are no any long-term credits available for the producers willing to bet on this activity.
"It is difficult to pay a loan when this crop takes four to five years to produce. In addition, the markets can be very complicated at times. There are times when producers make money and there are times when producers lose money. It is a somewhat complicated activity," said Cedeño. Despite this, the sector is confident that it will get new markets. For example, a delegation from South Korea will visit the mango farms and packers in November to sign a trade agreement to export the fruit to that country. "Hopefully, this will happen this year or in 2018. In 2016 we opened the Chinese market and started shipping our fruits there, but by plane," said Cedeño.
In November last year, Pro Ecuador's commercial office in Shanghai (China) ran a campaign to promote Ecuadorian mango. In this campaign, Pro Ecuador introduced the fruit to 87,700 people. After 13 years of negotiation, Ecuador was able to start selling this fruit in China. "Ecuador's mango makes you feel passionate and energized," said Jean Liu, the director of Operations at Tmall.com Supermarket.
Source: eltelegrafo.com.ec