After starting with lighter mango supplies, this is what importers expect for summer

Rain early this year led to a slightly delayed start to the Mexico mango harvest, said Hector Soltero, vice president of sales operations for Oxnard, Calif.-based Mission Produce Inc. Mission Produce receives several varieties of mangoes from multiple growing regions.

“High-quality tommy atkins and honey mangoes from Mexico have been arriving in our North American forward distribution centers, as well as limited volumes of hadens,” Soltero said.

The company also is sourcing tommy atkins mangoes from Nicaragua and Guatemala.

“As summer approaches, the harvest of fibreless varieties, such as kent and keitt mangoes, generally begins in northern and central Mexico,” he said. “We expect to start sourcing kent mangoes from Mexico in May.”

Mission Produce also plans to source organic tommy atkins, kent and keitt mango varieties from Mexico.

Central American Produce, Pompano Beach, Fla., will source mangoes from Central America until just beyond mid-May and will continue to source from several areas of Mexico throughout the summer, said CEO Michael Warren.

The company offers tommy atkins, haden and honey mangoes.

Quality has been good so far this season, Warren said.

Sizing was a little larger than normal in early April, but Warren said he expected size to drop off slightly to 8s, 9s and 10s from Mexico and Central America later in the spring.

Central American Produce also imports a few organic mangoes, which were expected to be available starting around the third week of April.

Prices were higher than usual with a light early-season mango volume, but prices were expected to drop by late April as volume picks up, Warren said.

River Edge, N.J.-based Vision Import Group, which early this year formed a joint venture called Vision Global Group with Great Neck, N.Y.- based William H. Kopke Jr. Inc., is sourcing mangoes from Mexico and Guatemala this spring, said Ronnie Cohen, principal.

There should be enough mangoes for Cinco de Mayo promotions, he said.

The company imports mostly the tommy atkins variety, some honey mangoes and a few hadens. A few kents should be available from Guatemala, he added.

Quality has been good, Cohen said. Size varies by country and growing region, but he said Guatemala usually produces more smaller-size fruit than larger fruit.

Some retailers prefer to stick with one size for their mango displays, Cohen said, while others like to offer a couple options to appeal to different segments of their customer base.

In early April, Soltero of Mission Produce said the size curve was leaning toward larger fruit.

“As the season progresses with harvest in the northern parts of Mexico, sizing is expected to become more balanced,” he said. “As we continue our efforts to expand our ripe mango programs nationwide, we expect to source additional volume this year to support customer demand for both honey mangoes and round varieties, such as tommy atkins, kents and keitts.”

Current per capita consumption of mangoes in the U.S is about 3.76 pounds, said Wiard of the National Mango Board.

“This represents an increase of about 19% when compared to 2018,” she said.