Summer has arrived and Hainan's tropical fruits, such as mangoes, have entered their peak retail season. However, this year they're hitting the market in bulk and the weather is not great, which has led to a situation where large volumes of ripe Hainan mangoes have become unmarketable.
Mango orchard in Dongfang City, Hainan Province, where piles of mango's have not been loaded and shipped
The Dongfang Department of Agriculture explained that Dongfang City is the main mango production area in Hainan with a surface area of 12,200 hectares devoted to mango production. The production volume of 7,333 hectares has already been harvested. The harvest volume of 140-150 thousand tons increased by 30% in comparison with last year. This year, however, the surface area devoted to mango production in Dongfang is much larger than in previous years, while the weather is not great for mango sales, and the mango harvest from Sanya, Lushui, and Ledong arrived on the market at the same time. All these factors have created a situation where supply far exceeds demand. Furthermore, imported mangoes from Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam create more competition in the mango market. Under these circumstances the domestic mango market is saturated, while Dongfang still has more than 6,667 hectares of mango plantations where the mangoes have not yet been harvested, and several thousand hectares where mangoes have become unmarketable.
Source: Economic Daily-Chinese Economy Online