Piura's Kent mango campaign began with a price that reached S/ 200 soles for a 20-kilogram bag, that is, producers were paid S/ 10 soles for each kilo that will be exported by air. Meanwhile, the mango that is exported by sea reached a price of S/ 70 per bag, i.e. S/ 3.5 for each kilo at origin. The high prices, when compared only to the previous harvest, are due to the reduction in production due to the high temperatures generated by the El Niño phenomenon.
"The price of the ‘aerial’ mango ranges between S/ 180 and S/ 200 for a 20-kilo bag. It is a good price, but only for some producers and for those who have been successful in their management. Climate change has been very hard for farmers," stated Milton Calle Cueva, vice president of the Peruvian Association of Mango Producers (Promango), in an interview with the Service for Integral Rural Development (SEDIR), an institution that provides technical support to small producers.
Last season, the ‘aerial‘ mango was sold at an average price of S/ 5 in Piura, while the ‘maritime‘ mango was sold at S/ 1.5 per kilo at origin. The lack of flowering of the mango plant led to a drastic up to 80% reduction in productivity increasing the price of the fruit. There's not much supply, but there's a lot of demand.
The 2023-2024 campaign in Piura began with the export of just 10 containers of mango by sea and 8 containers by air. Promango estimates that the country will only ship 3,682 containers this season, a much lower number than the 12,000 containers shipped in the previous season.
Projections for Moro and Casma
The price of premium ‘aerial’ mango in Moro in the previous campaign reached S/ 1.8 on average, and the kilo of ‘maritime‘ mango had a price of S/ 1. "I think that when the campaign arrives in Moro (between February and March 2024) the price of mango will be similar to that of Piura, which is the main exporting region," stated Calle Cueva.
Moro and the Nepeña Valley have an agricultural border of 1,200 hectares of mango. Production has decreased by 70% and farmers have done everything possible to achieve the flowering of the plant and, in this way, increase productivity. SEDIR has toured several fields and has seen the drama experienced by small producers.
The main buyers of Peruvian mango are the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, South Korea, Belgium, Russia, Chile, France, Japan, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland. The Netherlands and the United States receive 68% of the national production.
Source: agraria.pe