Maria Cavazos of MC Produce based in Montreal, QC says Brazilian mangoes which started shipping from week 35, will go until the middle of this coming October.
After many years of experience in the Mexican market as the manager of a citrus producer/distributor, combined with five years in Growers Relations with a company in Montreal, the decision to start her own company was a natural transition for Maria Cavazo.
With strong relationships all across Mexico and South America, as well as Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and Honduras, MC Produce is positioning itself as a direct distributor of fresh produce in the US and Canada.
According to Cavazos. MC Produce began shipping Brazilian mangoes week 36, pointing out, “Brazil’s season started very late this year so the season will be short. As soon as Ecuador starts, which is around the second week October, then Brazil will finish along with Peru.”
That said, there is less volume from Brazil this season, particularly on the Ataulfo or “Honey mango” variety. “And the red mangoes are big sizes. There’s very little on sizes 10s and 12s for the chain stores,” Cavazos adds.
She notes that demand for the mangoes is good and coming from both Canada and the U.S. as well as throughout Europe.
“Demand was soft last month because school starts in September. But now, because of the heavy rains, there’s the low volume in Brazil and we have higher demand from customers. It will be extremely difficult this year to fill up the gap”, she says.
As for pricing, it recently sat at $3.50/box but given the good demand for Brazilian mangoes, prices on size 36 and higher are from $4-$4.50. “This is also because there are less people in the fields in Brazil harvesting fruit,” says Cavazos, noting supplies are tighter.
Looking ahead, Cavazos says the coming weeks promise good-quality fruit at possibly higher prices. “But challenges for the season include transportation with higher rates”, she says.
