Israel is gearing up to start its mango season at the end of the month with Tommy Atkins set to kick off the campaign.
Agrexco, the leading sender out of Israel, is expecting to have good availability of the variety right through to the beginning of September.
“Volumes will be good, particularly for the wholesale sector,” said Eitan Zvi, Agrexco UK sales manager. Quantities will however be slightly below last year’s levels. “Basically because many of our growers are switching to other varieties in order to satisfy the demands of the multiples who prefer the green-skinned and ready-to-eat varieties,” said Zvi.
But total production volumes are up on 2004 to an estimated 4,000 tonnes. Of this Agrexco forecasts that 1,800t will come to the UK.
Following on from Tommy Atkins and running in parallel with it is Kent. Its season will start around August 5 and availability will only be for about three to four weeks.
“We will immediately be then dealing with Keitt as from the end of August,” said Zvi. Keitt’s season is expected to run right through until the end of October. “We are seeing a good demand for Keitt from the multiples and we are happy to say that we have larger volumes than last year,” said Zvi. “Even so, customers are asking us to stretch our season as much as we can. Fortunately we are in a position to do this and measures are now in place to deliver quality produce over a longer period.”
Agrexco is enjoying considerable success with its ready-to-eat lines that are being pushed as premium product by the multiples. Under this banner is Maya which should be available from the end of the month at about the same time as Tommy Atkins. It will continue its season until the end of August when the baton will be taken up by Shelly for the next two to three weeks. “Demand for the ready-to-eat line is excellent,” said Zvi. “We have great programmes in place and we are looking forward to bringing in great fruit of excellent eating quality.”
Agrexco is also working with its fellow members of the Mango Association to communicate the nutritional message of mangoes and its Health for Kids programme.
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