Glut in market, Nipah scare hit mango growers hard

One has seen growers of onion or tomato throwing their produce on the road due to excess crop. But there is an unlikely candidate this time, mangoes. Several factors seem to have ganged up to create such a situation.

The APMC yard here has turned into a virtual trash bin as the fruits are rotting, but there are hardly any buyers. The furious growers are throwing the mangoes into the drains and on the roads. Among the reasons for the price crash are excess production and fall in demand from the middlemen.

The rates have fallen to as little as Rs 10-12 a kilo for the Badami variety. The other varieties of mangoes are priced at Rs 4-5 a kg, down from Rs 100 a few days ago.

Varieties like Sendur, Rasapuri and Neelam have no takers. Buyers purchased 240 quintals of Badami mangoes at Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 per quintal. Other varieties (740 quintals) sold at Rs 500-600 per quintal. Even tomato is commanding a better price than mangoes, say the growers.

Many lorry loads of mango are returning to the market as some buyers are sending them back due to excess
supply. Earlier, these buyers, mostly juice producers, used to fall over each other to buy both ripe and raw mangoes. However, this time, the buyers are imposing conditions on what they want.

Nipah scare

The scare of the spread of Nipah virus through mangoes has discouraged retail consumers from buying them and so, the demand has crashed. Besides, there is a glut in production in Kolar, another major production centre.

Many growers have left the mangoes to rot on the trees as they don’t want to spend on the labour for plucking in the current situation.