Australia’s mango industry hopes for a strong, uninterrupted end to the season

The Australian Mango Industry Association is confident of ending the mango season strong, as late-season varieties prepare to hit markets.

“We are not aware of any significant delays in the mango supply chain,” AMIA CEO Brett Kelly told FreshPlaza. “There is still a range of high quality mangoes available across Australia. Mango lovers can start to expect to see late season varieties such as Keitt, Palmer and Kent in their local stores.

Harvest volumes are beginning to slow, with 155,000 trays (7 kg) sent to market, compared to 211,000 trays the previous week. The figure is expected to drop slightly next week to 148,000 trays and at this point the season is due to end the first week of April, with an estimated total of 7,860,000 trays for the season – well above the year last.

Most cultivation regions have ended, including Darwin, Kununurra, Katherine and more recently the Bowen/Burdekin region. Queensland Mareeba/Dimbulah volumes fell slightly from 81,000 to 65,000 trays last week.

“Honey Gold, Keitt and other varieties such as Brooks and Palmers shipped last week,” AMIA reported in the My Mango update. “Some growers have experienced scattered showers which are expected to continue this week, but this should not delay picking or impact fruit quality. For growers who are done picking, they are turning to pruning and hedging their trees.

Shipping from the South East Queensland region was dominated by Honey Gold and Calypso last week, and no further R2E2 fruit is expected to be picked this season. The AMIA says some growers have indicated there may be a slight delay in the start of picking their Keitt crop, which was originally scheduled to be picked this week.

As the season peaked in Carnarvon, Western Australia, shipping volumes are expected to slowly decline over the next few weeks.

“The high temperatures of the past few days have caused fruit to ripen rapidly and have impacted expected yields, with remaining fruit on the trees suffering further sunburn,” the AMIA said. “The Gingin area continues to experience hot weather, with another heat wave over the past few days. Under these conditions, heat sums could accumulate more quickly, which could potentially lead to an earlier start to the season than currently expected. Separate flowering events led to fruit of different sizes in the orchards.”

The Gingin region should produce fruit from late February to April.

For more information
Australian Mango Industry Association
Telephone: +61 7 3278 3755
[email protected]
www.mangoes.net.au