Barring a prolonged strike at East Coast ports of entry disrupting supplies, organic mangos from South America will increase throughout the month of October allowing for retail promotions throughout the fall.

“This season, we will be offering organic mangos on both East and West Coasts and will have programmable and promotable volumes from both growing regions,” said Jason Laffer, vice president of sales for TerraFresh Organics, Mill Valley, California.  

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South American mango season begins

According to Laffer, sufficient South America mango volume for promotions should begin in mid-October and run through early March. He added that the availability of the fruit from Ecuador and Peru “will dovetail nicely into our Mexican program, which begins late January with our Ataulfo ‘Honey’ mangos.”

Laffer reported that healthier weather patterns in South America this season have led to early bud break and full blooms on the trees—a much different situation than a year ago. “These are all positive signs for a better volume year out of South America,” he said.

He added that TerraFresh Organics has been working with its grower partners in these regions for many years to improve production and the quality of fruit coming off the trees and into the U.S. market under the TerraFresh label. “Improvements in the groves as well as in the packing houses should be represented in the cartons this season,” Laffer said.

He did note that there is currently a tight market for organic mangos as supplies will be limited until volume ramps up from the Southern Hemisphere. “The industry will experience a demand/supply challenge at the onset of the season. As many are aware, the Mexican season ended abruptly, weeks earlier than expected, which has led to a shortage of organic supply industrywide,” Laffer said. “Demand is outpacing supply; however, we do expect this to improve as we move into November.”

But overall, Laffer concluded that the future looks bright for organic mangos. “Our quality is expected to be strong with healthy peak sizes that will cater to both retailers and consumers’ needs and we expect to see strong growth in this category as mangos continue to become more of a staple item in consumers' baskets across the nation.”

Industry eyes current dockworker strike

Gary Clevenger, managing member for Freska Produce International in Oxnard, California, agreed that organic mangos should be in fairly good supply toward the latter half of October as Ecuador increases its volume. However, he did note that the East Coast dockworkers strike could significantly impact overall supplies of mangos, especially in the eastern half of the U.S market.

Discussing South American organic mango supplies in general, Clevenger said over the last four or five years Freska has been encouraging its mango growers in Ecuador to increase their organic production and that effort is bearing fruit. “We are starting to see more and more volume coming from Ecuador,” he said, noting that significant arrivals from that country should hit U.S. ports in two to three weeks. In addition, organic mango shipments from Peru should begin in the second half of November.

Currently, Brazil is in the middle of its mango season. But organic mangos from that country are scarce because Brazilian mango shipments must endure a treatment protocol of either a hot water bath or fumigation before being offered for sale in the U.S. market. It is the mangos from Brazil that will be immediately impacted by the current East Coast dockworkers strike.

Ecuador’s location allows exporters to ship to both U.S. coasts, which will help exporters mitigate the current strike situation. However, Clevenger said a prolonged strike will have an impact across the country and could cause a significant blow to the U.S. economy. In the grand scheme of things, mangos are not top of mind but they will be impacted. There are no ocean shipping routes that will allow Brazil to ship fruit to the West Coast and the mango pricing structure makes it almost impossible to incur the cost of air shipments.

Clevenger said a mango shortage would be felt across the country if the disruption of supplies lasts longer than a week. At this point, with the strike underway, he believes mango shipments from Brazil have been halted as most exporters do not want to take the risk of not being able to unload the fruit once it reaches those U.S. ports. And since those voyages can be as long as three weeks, there will certainly be a gap in arrivals if the strike lasts for even a week.

Though there has been no indication by the International Longshoremen Association as to how long the strike will continue, government intervention is expected if it goes on for long due to its impact on the U.S. economy. It has been widely speculated that the Biden Administration will step in and try to help broker a deal within the first week or so. In June of 2023, U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su did get involved in the negotiations after several days and was credited with playing a significant role in its resolution.