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Europe's mango boom
The development of seafreight has had a large part to play in the rapid increase in mango
sales in Europe. Eurofruit Magazine talks to exporters and importers about the increasing
popularity of this fruit and prospects for sales this year
Mango pmduction in PuertoRico
Creating . an id nitxzre
West African mango producers are unsure whether they should
imitate the model of their competitors or carve out a new image for
themselves
N EAR TO 40,000 tonnes of
.N mangoes were imported by the
EC in 1991, ofwlich 8,500 tones were
supplied by ACP producing countries,
The UK is the Community's largest
consumer of mangoes, accounting for
13,000 tonnes in 1991, followed by
France, the Netherlands, Germany,
Belgium and Portugal. On the supply
side, the ACP countries - mainly West
African in this case - have accounted
for a stable 25 per cent -,iare of the
market since 1987, with total mango
sales increasing by 30 per cent over
this same period. Indeed, the league
of suppliers has hardly changed in
this time. Puerto Rico and the USA
have maintained a stranglehold over
the market, followed by Brazil,
Venezuela, Mexico and Israel.
Stable from 1987 to 1991, mango
exports from the Ivory Coast are set to
increasc this year to 3,000 tonnes.
These will be supplied by four export
groups: Idefor, Ifruitrop, Ranch du
Koba and Sitab. Meanwhile, in
Burkina Faso, exporters Ucobam and
Flex Faso are predicting exports in the
region of 1,000 tonnes
Sea or air?
The main difference between mangoes
from Africa and mangoes from America
and Latin America is one of transport
costs Seafreight, which is twice as
cheap as airfreight, is the best means
o oliothtte oo
of transporting sizoable volumnes of
mangoes overseas. Some African
exporters now believe that they too
must transfer over to sea technology if
they are to maintain a strong market
position. The changeover is relatively
easy for certain markets such as the
Ivory Coast, which already possess
good port facilities. The move
obviously becomes complicated for
landlocked countries such as Burkina
Faso and Mall. Burkina is looking at
transporting mangoes in containers to
the Ivory Coast port of Abidjan, while
Mali has not as yet come up with any
viable solution. For the time being,
the airline services of Air France and
Air Afriquo remain Mall's only
solution for transporting mangoes to
Europe. Guinea suffers similar
problems - its port at Conakry lacks
the necessary infrastructure to cope
with refrigerated vessel arrivals
Varieties and quality
In addition to the logistical problems
facing the West Africans, there is also
the question of whether the mangoes
Eurofruit Magazine May 1993
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