Early Mexican mango volumes surge

Mexican mango imports came into March like a lion, but overall volumes this season could be more lamb like. Through the end of February, about 2.1 million boxes of mangoes had been shipped from Mexico to the U.S., up from 798,000 boxes at the same time last year and 413,000 boxes at the same time in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In three of the last six days of February, daily shipments topped 150,000 boxes, said Bill Vogel, president of Tavilla Sales Co. Inc., Los Angeles. Last year at this time, the biggest days were in the 60,000-box range, Vogel said. “We’ve seen very good supplies. The quality’s good and it’s heavy on the larger sizes — 14s to 18s,” he said.

While early volumes out of Mexico are heavy, William Watson, executive director of the National Mango Board, Orlando, Fla., said total shipments this season could wind up being lower.
“We’re hearing volumes are going to be tighter than last year,” he said.

The word out of Mexico this season, Watson said, is that exporters plan to focus more on quality than in the past, with less small fruit making its way to the U.S. As a result, Mexican shipments will likely be below last year’s 42 million-box total, he said.

Guatemalan, Nicaraguan and Costa Rican mango shipments could be slightly below last year’s totals, while Haiti is expecting a small increase, Watson said.