Prices are currently good on the European mango market. "There's quite a lot of demand, and the supply from Brazil is very limited. That's resulting in prices of between €8 and €9," says Bert Westera of the Portuguese company Sweet Fruits' Dutch sales office.
"The market will stay tight for the next few weeks. That's mainly because of the post-election unrest in Brazil and the rain that's hindering harvesting. All that's led to a low supply. That country's Keitt supply ended early this year too. Fortunately, we're currently already receiving Kent, which will keep coming until late December. When the Kent season in Brazil is over, we'll switch to Palmer and Tommy and import Kent from Peru. We can't escape the fact that Kent remains the most popular mango in much of Europe," explains Bert.
"We're happy with the much-needed price recovery. Containers cost about twice as much, and packaging and labor costs are also far higher. Retailers can, therefore, not avoid paying more for this fruit. Prices should remain level in November and December, with a dip in December."
Sweet Fruits' head office is in Portugal, from where it has always served southern European countries. Its sales office in the Netherlands covers the rest of Europe. "We usually start with the first Peruvian mangos from the second week of January. It's very risky to ripen in December/early January. We still also fly in a fair amount of mangoes. We have a fairly stable regular customer base for those," Bert concludes.
For more information:
Bert Westera
Sweet Fruits, S. A.
154 Westerstraat
7811 MV, Emmen, NL
Tel.: +31 (0) 591 745 111
Email: bert@sweetfruits.pt