Why Alphonso mango prices are much lower this year

APMC director Sanjay Pamsare said the mango market is robust. “Production is good and arrival is quick and steady,” he said. While maintaining that pandemic had adversely affected the market for the last two years, he said mango arrival will generally increase by March end.

The Alphonso from Ratnagiri and Devgad in coastal Konkan, which fetches the highest premium and maximum demand, is likely to rule the market this summer.

A senior Krishi Kendra officer said that the arrival of mangoes in market “started as early as February this year. Upon arrival, the best quality Alphonso was priced at Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 a box, with each box having two to four dozen mangoes.” However, by February end stocks rose rapidly and by March 15 mangoes had reached almost every fruit shop in the neighbourhood, he added.

Among the reasons cited for surplus stock is the good monsoon last year coupled with intense heat which lasted till February end, he explained. Apart from this, traders and mango farmers are looking to recover from losses incurred during the pandemic.

With Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri districts in Konkan emerging as the main districts of mango production, thousands of locals are engaged in domestic work, that entails plucking raw mangoes to packing them in wooden boxes which are then sent to APMC and private markets across the Maharashtra.

At the Dadar vegetable and fruit market, small retailers have stocked thousands of wooden boxes, each containing two to four dozen Alphonso mangoes, the rates varying with quality and size, from Rs 850 to Rs 2,200 per dozen.

The APMC receives 55,000 to 60,000 mango boxes every day, which are then lifted by local traders. While wholesale prices are lower, mango prices in open next door markets or malls are 20 per cent higher.

Market watchers said that if the stick remains steady, “prices for quality mangoes will decline from Rs 900–Rs 1,200 per dozen to Rs 450–Rs 800 per dozen by March end.”

However, mango growers in the state are worried about fresh stock arriving from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which results in prices crashing. But then the underlying belief is that the Alphonso of Devgad and Ratnagiri will retain their own distinct identity and delicious flavour that no other mango can match.