The upcoming 2023 mango season is not looking promising at all for Ecuadorian growers as they might be facing a 65 - 75 percent overall volume reduction due to the “El Niño” climatic phenomenon. Ecuadorian mango season usually starts with yellow varieties around mid to late September followed by Tommy Atkins during October and ending with Kents and Keitts in late November and December.

It was just too warm says Bernardo Malo, chairman of the Mango Ecuador Foundation which represents 97 percent of the country´s growers, packers and shippers. Temperatures were on average three degrees Celsius higher than normal during the time when floral inductions took place, which also brought some unexpected late rains back in May and June.

In addition to the lower expected volume, Ecuadorian growers and shippers are also facing the possibility of early winter rains forecasted by the end of the year, says Malo. This could jeopardize the harvesting of the fruit due to logistics restrictions in addition to eventually compromising its condition as well. The final volume will depend on how soon rains come, but the industry as a whole anticipates a severe reduction in one way or another.

Five pack houses regularly operate out of Ecuador but because of the overall situation, there might be fewer of them actually opening as shared risk agreements between some of them might be a valid option in order to optimize operations costs.

The Ecuadorian mango industry is one of the few among the different growing origins with full traceability at both farm and pack house levels. All farms in Ecuador are Globalgap certified and all pack houses are Primus GFS and SMETA certified.

It will be a very complicated season for Ecuador as the projected economic losses are huge. The last “El Niño” occurred 26 years ago. However, experts believe that present conditions could be even worse than those in 1997.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com