According to Javier Chavez Contreras, the President of the Mango Product System, despite the high levels of insecurity and extortion lived a couple of years ago, Michoacan has led Mexican mango exports since 2011.
Chavez Contreras, who noted that there were currently no problems and that producers and packers were working hard, acknowledged that two years ago, when the situation was dangerous, there were orchards that had not been harvested.
"That year [2012] I used a fertilizer that was very expensive because I fertilized with mangoes, and they all fell. It was an organic fertilization and I lost everything; then the following years we have been producing it and harvesting it, it's been a very good moment," he said.
Today, Michoacan produces 135,000 tons of mangoes a year, ranking sixth at the national level. Of this amount, 70,000 tons are exported to international markets, such as Canada, the United States, and Asian and European countries, the representative said.
Even though the states of Guerrero, Nayarit and Sinaloa are in the first places of production in the country, Michoacán ranked first in exports, as other states only export between 10 and 20 percent of what they produce.
In this sense, Chavez Contreras said that Mexico was also the world's biggest mango exporter. 83 percent of the country's mango exports are destined to the United States, 12 percent to Canada and the rest to Japan and Europe.
He stated that the main producers of mango, in varieties such as the Tommy Atkins, Heidi, Ataulfo, Kent and Keitt, were Zamora, New Urecho, Parácuaro, Buenavista Tomatlán Tepalcatepec Miigica, Lazaro Cardenas, Luke and Huetamo.
Source: lavozdemichoacan.com.mx