Guatemala estimates exports today for the current campaign exports of the 35 million pounds of mango, a 10 percent decrease against the volume of the past, an official source reported.
In addition, 15 million pounds will arrive in the domestic market, the president of the board of directors of the Committee of that fruit of the country’s Exporters Association (Agexport), Eddy Martínez, said in statements to the local press.
The main foreign buyers are the United States (90 percent), Central America and the European Union, are also sent to Chile, while authorities work to open other markets such as Japan and South Korea.
Export mango production is concentrated in the departments of Retalhuleu and Zacapa, while the current harvest was delayed for at least three weeks due to the El Niño climate phenomenon and high temperatures, Martinez described.
The extreme drought affected the strongest of all those farms that have no irrigation, as is the case with small farmers without this system, in which the fall can be up to 40 percent, he stressed.
The start of the harvest, scheduled for the last week of February, took place this month and the large offer will arrive from the first week of April for the national market and the export market, he said.
He stressed that in the country’s consumption it grows annually by between four and five percent, as more is bought to make mango pulp, pieces, or frozen handle, the official added.
Despite the fall for this period, the Mango Committee is committed to moving from exporting six billion dollars a year to 13.6 billion in 2032, by improving productivity, adding value, diversifying supply and markets.
Agexport data show that the fruit-related industry provides more than eight thousand direct jobs and exceeds 100,000 wages in a day.
Of the nine thousand 541 hectares of mango grown in Guatemala, two thousand 293 are certified for export, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in El Pais