SOURCE: Matt Brann, ABC News
Mangoes from the Northern Territory touched down in Los Angeles this week and are selling for $US8.99 each, which in Australian dollars is nearly $14 a mango.
Manbulloo Mangoes’ supply chain advisor, Scott Ledger, travelled to California to oversee the arrival of the company’s R2E2 mangoes, which had come from farms near Katherine.
“These are large mangoes, really colourful, and taste delicious,” he said.
“It’s a pleasure to see this great quality, given they were picked about two weeks ago.”
He said Australian mangoes had been going into the United States market since 2015 and the high price was not deterring customers.
“It does cost us a lot of money to get these mangoes [from Australia] to the shelf,” Mr Ledger said.
“In Gelson’s Markets, they don’t baulk at the price because they know the variety and know it’ll be a great eating experience, and they get a lot of mango with an R2E2 variety.
“They tell me the price has not been a barrier for their regular customers.”
Mr Ledger said Manbulloo was also selling three-packs into the Walmart-owned Sam Club’s warehouses and demand was steady.
The same mangoes were retailing in Darwin this week for $4.90 each.
US market potential
Mr Ledger said a big challenge for mango exports was making sure the logistics did not affect fruit quality.
He said the industry was making big improvements and he believed in the next five years Australian mangoes would be sold not just in California but in “all areas of the US”.
The US also receives mangoes from Ecuador and Peru at this time of year, but Mr Ledger said the Australian mango was a bigger fruit and much sweeter.
According to the Australian Mango Industry Association’s export strategy report in 2022, the biggest overseas customers for Australian mangoes are Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
Australia exported 4,747 tonnes of mangoes in 2021-22, of which 197 tonnes went to the US.