SOURCE: Alys Marshall, ABC
Would you pay the price of a regular coffee for a mango this season?
This summer West Australian shoppers are being told to expect to pay upwards of four to five dollars for the seasonal fruit.
The reason? Supply and demand.
Bec McMullin and her partner Luke run Riverfarm Mangoes, just out of Kununurra in the Kimberley.
“Our mango [yields] are 50 to 60 per cent down this year,” she said.
Adrian Farcic is a Perth-based wholesaler who supplies the major supermarkets. He is struggling to access the quantities his clients demand.
“It’s just a really light season, not much fruit,” he said.
“It means prices are up and we might not see that glut of fruit as the season continues, so with less volume we can expect prices to stay steady as they are.”
The Australian Mango Industry Association has projected Kununurra’s mango crop to be down from 145,000 trays last year to 52,000 this summer season.
It’s the same story across the border in the Northern Territory, where Katherine’s mango crop is down from 1.8 million trays last year to 1.1 million projected for this year.
Western Australia’s mango supply is under even more pressure since the Australian Pesticides and Vetenirary Medicines Authority banned the post-harvest use of the fruit fly control chemical dimethoate, which many NT mango growers relied on to send their fruit into the WA market.
Alternative biosecurity options like fumigation and vapour heat treatment are available to allow interstate growers to export to WA, but they involve extra costs and logistics.
“It was definitely a challenge [getting that NT fruit into WA],” Mr Farcic said.
“But we are still getting those [interstate] suppliers.”
Less fruit in the market means growers are receiving higher prices for their mangoes, and Mr Farcic believes this is a small blessing.
“Especially for the smaller growers around Kununurra and Carnarvon, it’ll help them because they should be getting premium prices and not have as much competition from Darwin and Katherine.”
Bec McMullin agrees that the high prices are a help in what has been a tough season.
“We are hopeful those prices at market will offset those problems of low yield and a quick season for us,” she said.
She hopes consumers will understand that growers like herself aren’t profiteering from the price hikes.
“It’s a really challenging one for us because we want mangoes to be affordable for the everyday person.”
“And we certainly aren’t getting those [supermarket] prices come right back to us, we’ve got increased costs in freight, fuel, labour – there’s a lot against us when it comes to making money.”
Her message to consumers is simple.
“Help support local business and local farmers,” she said.
“Consider [the price of] a cup of coffee versus a mango, you’re going to enjoy the mango.”