Mango sales are not too wild at the moment, says Special Fruit's Joep Jongmans. "The market's been quiet for the past few weeks. That's not unusual before the summer vacations; that happens with fruits like bananas and pineapples too. The question is what effect inflation will have. Will people have less to spend now; will they hold off on buying fruit? We're monitoring those developments closely," he says.
"Brazil usually starts the season with Keitt, followed by Kent. That country's mangoes' quality is good this year, better even than last year. We should get large supplies of especially the Keitt variety from there over the next couple of weeks. And we'll receive weekly sea freight containers until the end of this year when the Brazilian mango season ends."
"Every week, we also get specially selected tree-ripened mangoes from Brazil via air freight. Over the whole year, Peru and Brazil are and will continue to be our largest mango supply countries. That's in addition to the West African countries and the Dominican Republic," Joep explains.
"This week, the Spanish mango season, too, began with the Osteen variety. We sell those in limited volumes because most of our customers still prefer the Brazilian product. It has a different flavor and price range. We sell most of the mangoes in our traditional sales markets - Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia." Organic mangoes are becoming an increasingly important item, according to the importer. "That share grows slightly every year," concludes Joep.
For more information:
Joep Jongmans
Special Fruit
36 Europa Street
2321, Meer, Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0) 333 01 792
Email: info@specialfruit.be
Website: www.specialfruit.be