Several factors have combined to create less-than-usual mango supplies over the last couple of months, but that’s all about to change. Mexico has been in production since late January and heavy supplies are expected no later than the beginning of April. In addition, both Nicaragua and Guatemala will be shipping to the United States in the March-April time frame.

It all adds up to good supplies that should allow for excellent pricing and many retail promotions. Isabel Freeland, vice president of Coast Tropical in San Diego, said the cold weather on the East Coast has limited demand and prevented retailers from getting excited about a tropical fruit such as mangos. But she told The Produce News Thursday, Feb. 26, that the situation will change as the weather warms and supplies increase.

“We will have significantly more volume than last year,” she said. “We expect to have 30 percent higher volume, and I think the entire industry is going to be up. The growing conditions have been excellent and there’s more fruit on the trees. In two weeks, we are going to see the start of heavy volume and it’s going to stay that way for a while. By the middle of the March, Coast will be bringing in 25-40 loads per week just from Mexico.”

Larry Nienkerk, manager of Splendid Products in Burlingame, CA, also expects the volume of Mexican mangos to increase throughout March and allow for many promotions from early April through the summer. He said once the volume shipments begin, they won’t let up.

Gary Clevenger, managing member and an owner of Freska Produce International in Oxnard, CA, agreed that spring and summer volume of mangos will be much better than the winter months. He said Peru’s volume in January and February was down a bit as was the earliest volume from Mexico. That resulted in a good market in late February with a carton of mangos commanding about $9 f.o.b.

Combine that price with cold weather in the east and mango movement was fairly slow with virtually no promotions.

West Coast ports labor issues were problematic for importers this year. The challenges at the ports resulted in a work slowdown and a much greater wait time before ships could be unloaded. Nienkerk said some fruit was six weeks old before it could be sold.

The situation led to importers loading fruit on ships bound for the East Coast rather than the West Coast. Clevenger said for the week of Feb. 23, 130 containers were loaded for East Coast delivery while only eight containers were on ships bound for the West Coast. Peru was nearing the end of its season that week, but Clevenger said the disparity was indicative of the uncertainty of the West Coast port situation when those shipments were being booked a week earlier.

Nienkerk said the end of the Peruvian deal should be cleaned up fairly quickly in early March, paving the way for Mexico to begin its volume shipments.