24 January 2024
A surplus supply of Tommy Atkins mangoes has kept mango prices under pressure on South Africa’s fresh produce markets since mid-December, and producers hope prices will firm up by February.
A confluence of factors in the mango industry this year has led to weak early-season prices after two fair seasons, says Pieter Buys of the South African Mango Growers’ Association.
On certain days in December and early January, as many as 230 000-240 000 cartons (4kg each) of mangoes were delivered to the Johannesburg fresh produce market and more than 150 000 cartons to the Pretoria market. For both markets, this was 25%-50% more than usual at peak times.
Julian van der Nat, an agent from Subtropico Market Agents specialising in mangoes, says it is more than the South African market can absorb. Tons of fruit that haven’t been sold are in cold storage at the markets.
Van der Nat and Buys agree that too little drying capacity this year is one of the main reasons for the large supply. The industry has three fewer drying facilities than in previous years. One has closed, one is undergoing overdue maintenance and repairs and the other doesn’t have the capacity to take in more mangoes. “Thousands of tons that are usually dried are now also being packed for the fresh produce markets,” says Buys.
Jaco Fivaz, manager of the Mohlatsi farm and drying facility in Hoedspruit, said at the Subtrop Marketing Symposium in Hoedspruit that South Africa’s mango-drying facilities are facing increasing competition from other African countries.
Facilities are being established in countries such as Ghana, where labour costs per kilogram of dried mangoes are about R7, compared to R18 in South Africa. On this uneven playing field, South Africa’s mango-drying industry has to compete with countries such as Burkina Faso, which supplies 25% of Europe’s dried mangoes.
With reduced drying capacity, more than 9 000 tons of mangoes now need a market.
Fewer exports
In addition, many farmers in the Hoedspruit area decided not to export mangoes this year. A wind and hailstorm in early December led some of them to deliver to local fresh produce markets instead.
“There’s nothing wrong with those mangoes,” says Buys. He believes farmers are cautious about sending fruit to export markets, where there is a risk that issues such as shelf life may have been affected by the storm, especially considering possible delays at South Africa’s ports.
The bottlenecks at the ports affect all summer export fruits, says Van der Nat. For example, there are also many more plums on local fresh produce markets than in previous years.
In the case of mangoes, the large harvest, the shortage of drying capacity, a large supply from Hoedspruit landing on the market later than usual and sluggish consumer demand have all contributed to a perfect storm for producers of this crop.
According to Van der Nat, the oversupply and poor prices seem to be hitting the Tommy Atkins cultivar the hardest, and scarce cultivars such as Heidi will earn better prices.
Tommy Atkins mangoes are trading at R5/kg to R12/kg, while the first scarce mangoes on the market earn R40/kg to R50/kg. Van der Nat believes demand for Tommy Atkins may firm up over the next few weeks. The issue, however, is that freshly delivered fruits can sell at better prices while fruits delivered earlier are accumulating storage costs for farmers.
