It has been a bumper season for the Australian mango industry, with volumes well up on previous years as production begins to ease after the December peak.
However Australian Mango Industry Association CEO Brett Kelly explains with the positive news of higher volumes, also came challenges brought on by a timing overlap caused by the Northern Territory regions coming online later and running into the Queensland season, leading to more mangoes on the market.
"There has been a substantial volume of fruit hitting the market at the same time and that puts a lot of pressure on pricing," Mr Kelly said. "That's the biggest challenge we have had is in terms of supply and demand; it's great that we have lots of volume but it's very difficult when it hits all at the same time. It's just been caused by seasonality, we are in the hands of mother nature with the weather, which has made it a later season than normal. It's pretty difficult for growers because their seasons are a short window, and they have to make a decision in a short timeframe to harvest it and get it to market, so it's been quite difficult for them. But it's been one of our highlights to have good volume and good quality. Demand has been good with the consumer, but we just have to get to a point where we can get a more stable and sustainable return in the long run. Retailers have told me that demand has been growing each year."
In the weekly My Mango newsletter, the AMIA Crop Forecast showed that 356,000 trays were sent to market last week, which follows the peak of the season in the week ending, December 9, where 768,000 trays were sent to market in that week. It is estimated that around 10-10.3million trays will be produced when this season ends in mid-March, which will be up from 9.8million in the 2021/22 season.
"Quality has been really good from the feedback that we have been getting," he said. "There have been a few weather events causing some issues. There have still been some challenges across the whole of horticulture with labour, but most of our growers have been pretty well organised. As far as export, the biggest challenge has been the freight and the cost of freight that has made it more difficult than normal, which is still balancing after the COVID-19 period and everything being locked down. We think that should level out over the next year or two."
Photo: taken by Dale Schneider from Simpson Farms
The AMIA has also been doing work with growers this season about potentially forming 'co-operatives' going forward in future seasons.
"We want to find out whether growers can get together on a regional basis as collective groups more," Mr Kelly said. "The objective is that in the future, that they have a stronger position in terms of efficiencies and negotiation, and therefore are better in setting up their channels to market. In addition, we have a cost-of-production template that is now available to our grower-members which they can download, and that gives them the ability to punch in all of their numbers and get their absolute bottom line of where they need to be in terms of their returns."
Regionally, it is only Queensland and Western Australia still harvesting, with wet weather having an impact in some areas.
"Kensington Pride and R2E2 dispatch is now complete in the Bowen/Burdekin region, with the final week of Honey Gold expected to be sent out this week," the AMIA said. "Rain volumes between 350mm to 515mm have been reported in the 4 days prior to Monday the 16th of January from our growers between Horseshoe Lagoon and Mount Ossa (North Mackay). While in the Mareeba/Dimbulah region, rain impacted picking last week, and this is expected to continue throughout this week. Small volumes of Keitts are expected to start this week, and this alongside others, such as Brooks will extend until the conclusion of the season in the area. Only two further weeks of reduced volumes are expected from Kensington Pride and R2E2 varieties, with this week being the final week of dispatch of the Calypso variety. Some growers have now concluded their picking season and have moved on to their pruning and other post-harvest activities. In South East Queensland rain impacted many growers last week, but conditions are expected to improve later this week. Greater volumes of Honey Gold than expected were dispatched last week from the region, and small volumes of Calypso and other varieties are expected to be picked next week as long as the weather is clear."
In WA, weather conditions in Carnarvon remain ideal for picking as the season is well underway for Kensington Pride and R2E2, with Honey Gold just starting. While the season in Gingin is currently expected to start mid-to-late February and growers expect average volumes.
For more information
Brett Kelly
Australian Mango Industry Association
Phone: +61 7 3278 3755
[email protected]
www.mangoes.net.au
