The prolonged drought and the constant heat strokes in Malaga and Granada will mean that the Spanish mango harvest, which is about to start, will be reduced by more than 80% this year compared to its productive potential. Many European chains, therefore, have decided to bet on maintaining the volumes of overseas import programs in order to continue having this product on their shelves.
“The mango campaign is about two weeks earlier than usual due to the high temperatures. This week we will start harvesting because the product meets the optimal conditions to be able to sell it,” says Álvaro Martínez, from the Malaga-based company Axarfruit.
“The size and quality of the mango are very good this year, but the farms are almost empty, since we are missing more than 80% of the fruit that we normally have, something that is widespread in all producing areas. We have never encountered a situation like this before. It is really catastrophic, both for the producers and for those of us who market the product, and we have made large investments in expansion and improvement of the processes in the plants, since we will be missing the most important thing,” says the manager of Axarfruit.
“This year, the Spanish mango will become a luxury product,” he says. “We will be facing a very short campaign and, as there will be little fruit and it will be very expensive, many European distributors have worked to ensure a continued supply of fruit from the southern hemisphere, especially from Brazil, although with the African mango finished, there will also be Israeli fruit. We believe that this year, the Spanish mango will go mainly to supermarkets or more gourmet stores.”
“We have been working for years to build a customer network with great effort and this year, we will barely be able to serve the product,” laments Álvaro Martínez. “In general, the Spanish mango has been gaining an important role in traditional markets, since it is a local product with a quality comparable to that of airplane mangoes.”
According to the manager of Axarfruit, “Water is becoming increasingly scarce and, together with the temperatures, which have reached higher and continuous peaks in recent years, are complicating the cultivation of subtropical fruits in Malaga. We can put up with a year like this, but we won’t be able to put up with this situation if it lasts much longer”.
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