This year's mango harvest in West Africa is now gradually gaining momentum. The first fruits are already being harvested in the southern growing regions and are expected to be shipped to the Netherlands in calendar weeks 22-23. In the north, the harvest will not really get going for a few weeks. The main harvest will therefore also start two weeks later than last year. "However, the fruit load in our plantations looks very good," reports the manager of BuurSine International, a leading supplier of organic mangoes from Senegal.
While global demand for Senegalese dried fruit continues to grow, exports of fresh West African mangoes have been declining in recent years, confirms his brother Papa Alioune Dieng, who runs an import agency in Hamburg called International Agro-Business e.K. "I am also considering getting into the dried fruit business, for example, with pineapples, bananas, mangoes, and cashew nuts. Firstly, because it is a year-round business, and secondly because of the shelf life and the possibility of shipping by sea instead of air."
Mangoes from Senegal. In addition to the commercially available Kent and Keith varieties, many other varieties grow and thrive in this West African country, but are hardly to be found in Europe.
A lack of airlines continues to be a hindering factor for the export of West African mangoes to Europe (FreshPlaza reported). "The export season has now ended in the Ivory Coast. The season is also slowly coming to an end in Mali. Here, in particular, we have the problem that Air France no longer offers direct flights to Mali. Neither indirect flights with Turkish or Qatar Airlines nor switching to sea freight are an option for many of our customers, so the total volume for the German and Dutch markets has been severely restricted in recent years." The same applies to Senegal, he continues.
After several years, the two brothers are now hoping for a good season in Senegal. Dieng: "Due to the aforementioned issues surrounding air freight and the generally low availability of quantities, there were repeated short gaps between deliveries last year. This also drove prices up accordingly and made marketing more difficult. We expect a later but overall better mango campaign this year."
For more information:
Papa Alioune Dieng
International Agro-Business
Lohkampstr. 37b
22523 Hamburg
Tel: +49 176 27 885 639
[email protected]
https://buursine.de/