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On The Land

26 January, 2023

Mango prices steady after clashing start

LOCAL mango farmers had no choice but to leave fruit unpicked on their trees late last year after a late mango season in the Northern Territory forced the price of mangoes to severely drop and despite the season nearly being over, the damage had been already done.


Mango prices steady after clashing start - feature photo

A volume timing issue has caused the Northern Territory and North Queensland mango seasons to coincide in December 2022 and pushed more mangoes onto the market causing the price to drop considerably.

Australian Mango Industry Association chief executive officer Brett Kelly said prices are beginning to stabilise but much of the damage had already been done.

“The key issue is that it has been a late start in the Northern Territory and straight into the North Queensland season,” he said.

“You have all this volume in the market at the one time and with supply and demand, it has put a lot of pressure on price which has made it very difficult for growers.

“It is starting to level out but unfortunately the season tends to start in the Northern Territory, onto North Queensland then it goes down into South-East Queensland then around to Western Australia.

“You will see pricing start to go up but the unfortunate part is the bulk of the volume has already be done.”

The current price for a tray of Kensington Pride as of Friday 13, fetches an average of $32.

The season overall is looking good with a projected 10 million -10.3 million trays, up from 9.8 million trays last season.

The typical mango season in Australia begins around September and runs until the end of February however with the late start, many North Queensland growers have missed out on their typical selling window.

Mr Kelly is encouraging locals to continue to support their local growers because unlike other produce, the mangos people buy on the shelves could be grown by a neighbour who lives down the road.

As farmers get better prices for their produce, they reinvest that money back into their farms or into their local community groups and businesses.

“Let’s get behind our growers and support them with a fair price,” Mr Kelly said.

“One of the things we are trying to do to help our growers in the long term is to get into contractual arrangements with whoever it is they are selling to.

“This fixed price will protect them from these up and downs.”

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