This year's mangoes are of great quality, and pricey

First, the good news: This year’s mangoes will be delicious compared with last year. The bad news? Prices might go up soon as demand and export peaks.

According to horticulture experts, prices of the ‘king of fruits’ are yet to go down in the market as this year’s produce is of high quality. Another reason for the high price is this year’s yield, which is estimated to be lesser than the previous year.

While Banganpalli is priced at Rs 120 a kilo, prices of Alphonso are hovering at
Rs150-180 for the naturally ripened and organic varieties. Raspuri, which is usually priced around Rs 50 a kilo, is selling at Rs 80. And as demand and exports surge, prices are likely to go up this season, feel experts.

Karnataka’s yield this year is estimated to remain at eight lakh metric tonnes, said C G Nagaraju, managing director, Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation.

Mango is cultivated on 1.8 lakh hectares in Karnataka, with 50% of the cultivation occuring in Kolar, Chikkabalapur and Ramanagara.

“This year, the yield is of high quality. The size of the mango could be small because there has been a long dry spell. However, the taste is great,”
Nagaraju said, adding that last year there was a delayed flowering and the quality was not maintained.

“This year, fruit flies did not affect the crop. In many places, the trees were pruned and prepared for the season. For those growing Alphonso, lime was applied to trees,” he added.

Mango varieties in the state such as Alphonso, Banganpalli, Sindhura, Chinna Rasam are exported to Europe, Middle East, Singapore, Australia, and America. This year, as yield is of better quality, Nagaraju said that there was room for better exports. Farmers are being trained by the corporation on export methods and customs related issues.

B N Prasad, managing director, Hopcoms, said demand had gone up this year. “The quality is good. Last year, there was fear of Nipah. Due to that, very few purchased the fruit. Farmers were selling Totapuri at Rs 3 at the end of the season,” said Prasad.

He said demand had gone up this season even as the state was still awaiting the arrival of mangoes from Andhra Pradesh.