'We are in the middle of the driest summer for 40 years in South Africa,' he said. 'Last season we had a considerable amount of rain in December and that caused problems, but it is generally felt that the El Niño phenomenon is coming back and so far it has been good for mangoes.' Volumes will not alter much, however, as Curry said this is a down season. He explained: 'At best we will see the same volume as last season, when we shipped 1million boxes into Europe. As Westfalia's trees are fairly young, we would expect to see a year-on-year volume increase but that does not look likely. Around a quarter of our mangoes are sold in the UK and we still see potential for growth in this market.' The three staple lines of Tommy Atkins, Kent and Keitt are being supplemented by two varieties that are new to Westfalia in South Africa and, Curry thought, new to the country as a whole.
Joa and Manzanello are being planted in greater volumes after an extensive r&d programme on Westfalia's farms.
Curry expanded: 'We are constantly looking for new varieties that deliver on taste but also look good and these two have stood out in our variety trials.
'Tommy Atkins always looks great, but cannot be guaranteed to produce the flavour and Kent and Keitt are the opposite. Westfalia hopes it has found the right balance. There will be limited volume of both varieties for the UK and continental markets this season as the trials continue. If we get it right this year, there will be increased volume available for the 2004 season.' Also available in limited volumes for the second year are three organic mango lines: Tommy Atkins, Keitt and Sensation. The UK and 'isolated continental markets' will see fruit this season.
'It is difficult to gauge the real potential of organic mangoes with such small quantities in the marketplace until now,' said Curry. 'But there has been good demand and we think that the market can be developed.
'We did have a few problems last year but we believe we will improve significantly this year and expect strong demand.' The critical component to success in the mango sector, he added, is shipping. Curry explained: 'Westfalia has been working very hard to reduce the average shipping time and we have used vessels arriving in several ports in the UK to ensure direct delivery to this market.
'Research and reports by the South African Mango Growers' Association show there is a strong correlation between the shipping days and the performance of the product, and we have got the lead time from packhouse to UK customer down to an average of 23 days. We are constantly trying out new systems and would ideally bring those times down further.' Westfalia is a founder member of the UK Mango Association, which has limited membership and budget to date but has enjoyed success with two mango weeks and has launched a website.
'I would say it has been a big success so far,' said Curry. 'But the next 12 months are critical – we really need to build on the initial progress and expand our membership to increase the overall budget.
'We have received excellent support from the retailers in the UK and we have a good base to expand from.
'It was a leap of faith for the founder members, who invested in a new organisation with nothing to show for it. The small group of people who did have faith have benefited, and now we have something to show for our efforts and hopefully that will allow us to increase membership.'
