In the first weeks of March, 20 of the 65 packinghouse members of Empacadoras de Mango de Exportación, A.C. will have ramped up their seasonal production to export about 800,000 boxes mangos per week. Luis Jordan García, who heads the operations department of this group, known as EMEX, said the Ataulfo variety is Mexico’s largest-volume early-season mango variety.

EMEX is a civil association founded in 1991 whose main object is to coordinate, facilitate, improve, enhance, innovate and support Mexican mango producers, packers and exporters, with specific programs to improve the quality of the mango industry.

The members are located in the following Mexican states: Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Campeche, Michoacán, Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Nuevo León and Baja California.

The association is based in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.

Luis Jordan GarcíaWhile it is too early in the year to predict with certainty, Garcia indicated that EMEX members will probably reach peak volume shipping in late May and the first three weeks of June, with a great deal of fruit from Michoacán, Nayarit and Sinaloa. Primarily, Nayarit and Sinaloa will wind up the season in late August.

This season’s very first Mexican mangos were shipped in small volumes in late January.

Mexico’s weather “has been very good” for mango orchards, Garcia said. “We are planning for this season to be a good season.”

Very early estimates are that production will be about 5 percent above last year, which was a down year in Mexico. Mango fruit set still potentially faces cold or heavy rain damage in coming weeks.

Beyond its work with USDA on phytosanitary practices, EMEX works with its membership to improve fruit quality and to have top food-safety practices. Through Primus Labs come Primus GFS certifications. NSF International is working with EMEX members on GlobalGAP certifications and Mexico’s SENASICA helps with Contamination Risk Reduction Systems. EMEX has a five-person field staff to work with members on these certifications.

While most of EMEX members’ volume goes to the United States, the association is creating an export buyer database to expand its market and improve prices by reducing volumes exported to a single market. Other export markets are Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Garcia joined EMEX last fall after working for five years for the major packer Empaque Don Jorge. Empaque Don Jorge owns the Nogales distribution office of R.C.F. Produce Inc.