12 March,2011 06:42 AM IST | | Urvashi Seth
Owing to erratic weather, mango yield is poor this year. Traders foresee a 25 per cent deficit in the fruit's supply to markets this season
Expect to pay a princely price for the king of fruits this year. As the mango season arrives, traders predict an overall shortfall of 25 per cent this season, leading to a rise in prices.
Traders from Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) market in Vashi already received 17,000 boxes with a dozen mangoes each fewer than what they got last year in the first dispatch this month.
Traders claim good quality mangoes will be hard to come by this season
The crop has been affected by erratic weather conditions and high rainfall, impacting its yield, and supply to the markets. "This year the supply is expected to go down by 25 per cent.
Till last year, nearly 20,000 boxes of mango, each weighing 10 kg, arrived in the month of March. However, this March, less than a quarter of that quantity 3,000 boxes has reached the market," said Sanjay Pansare, joint president of Fruit and Vegetable Merchant Association, APMC.
Pansare added the shortage has impacted the prices. Even later, in the high season of the fruit, the cost of six dozen mangoes, that was anywhere between Rs 1,000 to 2,500 last year, will be up by Rs 4,000.
"It seems that mango lovers will have to shell out more this year. There is a drastic shortage of mangoes this month and we are expecting the prices to soar, as producers will try to make profits too," he said.
Bad weather
Kirti Singh Rana, a mango producer from Satpura district, who owns 2,300 mango trees on 60 acres summed up the malaise afflicting every farmer's crop.
"Crops that should have flowered by November did so around January and February. The entire cycle has been affected because of erratic weather.
There will be a tremendous shortage of mangoes this year," he said.
He used to supply 2,000 quintals of mangoes but has only 100 quintals this time. A similar scenario can be seen in the other regions in state where mangoes are grown.
"This year had exceptionally high humidity and cold weather, conditions conducive for pests to assault the crop. We were forced to spend lakhs on pesticides," Rana said.
"Kesar, considered to the best variety of mango, will hardly be available in the month of May. Quality mangoes will be hard to come by in the market," he added.
3,000
Number of mango boxes that have reached the market
Did you know?
India is the leading mango producer in the world followed by Mexico and China.
Rs 600 per mango!
According to reports, this year's first Alphonso mango fetched a record Rs 600 per fruit, almost 50 per cent more than last year's opening price. The first four boxes of this mango were sold for Rs 7,000 each at the Crawford Market in January. Each box contained a dozen Alphonsos. Whereas, in Pune, the first box of 40 Alphonsos were sold at an auction to an NRI conducted by the APMC for Rs 11,111.
