Mari Jose Arrebola from the Ideal provincial press wrote an interesting article yesterday concerning the worries of farmers over their mango crops on the Costa Tropical.

Recent bad weather along the Costa Tropical in the form of severe cold (for subtropical fruit, that is), heavy rain, and strong winds caused quite a lot of damage to mango trees we had to be pruned back to save them.

The result of the weather and the pruning has meant that provisional summer estimates foresaw a 40% drop in mango production, which proved unfounded, as actual harvest figures showed a drop of between 20% to 30%, so let’s say a quarter.

However, as the prediction had been quite severe, supermarket chains over-reacted and ordered mangoes from Brazil, boosting this country’s exports to Spain by 30% and consequently flooding the market.

As a result, local farmers blame the Mercosur Trade Agreement and a lack of EU protectionist safeguards for allowing cheap, duty-free, foreign fruit to undermine the domestic market.

But that’s not all because local producers consider that Brazilian mangoes face fewer strict, safety checks, lack clear traceability, and must be picked unripe due to a 15-to-20-day voyage to reach Spain, making them more fibrous and less sweet than the locally grown Osteen variety. Most locals in the Valle Verde prefer locally produced mangoes because of their better quality.

So, whilst wholesale prices for Spanish mangoes improved this year (averaging 1.10 euros to–1.20 euros per kilo, compared to last year’s 0.80 to 0.90/kg, agricultural associations warn that these higher prices do not offset the lost volume and high maintenance cost of producing mangoes locally.

What really worries local farmers is that now that Brazil has got its foot through the door, the coming years will see them pushing more and more mangoes onto Spanish markets.

Editorial comment: they need not worry because if people prefer locally produced mangoes to imported ones, based on their taste and quality, then the desire to import Brazilian mangoes will wane.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Source: MJA/Ideal)

Keywords: Mango Production, Bad Weather, Brazilian Imports, Crop Forecast, Mercosur trade agreement 

news, andalucia, granada, costa tropical, mango production, bad weather, brazilian imports, crop forecast, mercosur trade agreement