Big demand for Aussie mangoes

Australian mangoes are in hot demand and one producer is keen to take advantage of the latest market openings.

DEMAND for Aussie mangoes abroad is ramping up.

Australia is on track to produce 10 million trays of the summer fruit this year, with some heading to lucrative export markets in the US, Canada and Japan.

Northern Territory farmer and Manbulloo Limited managing director Marie Piccone is among the producers who will send fruit to Japan at the end of this month, a market that has only just reopened for her.

However, she said she was most excited about supplying to the US and Canada.

Manbulloo Limited has seven farms across northern Australia. Its 400ha flagship property, near Katherine, has 65,000 mango trees.

Five of the farms are in Far North Queensland.

The business, which was established in 1982, is Australia’s biggest producer of the Kensington Pride, the nation’s most popular mango variety.

Savvy and experienced in forming solid exporting relationships, Marie said there was enormous potential for Australian mangoes in North America.

“This is only the third year we have been there. It takes a lot of effort to open up a market,” she said. “We are starting to get a lot of traction. What makes it a good market is that our varieties, Kensington Pride and R2E2, are outstanding in terms of the flavour and quality, compared to what they get in from other places.

“So we have the wow factor. When you have the wow factor, even if you have a highly-priced product, there is a segment of the population over there who are willing to pay for it.”

YEAR OF EXTREME

GROWERS in the Top End have faced a harsh season.

Marie summed up the seasonal weather as being “extreme”. When The Weekly Times caught up with her, the temperature at her Manbulloo farm just outside Katherine was sitting at about 42C.

“We have had a very dry season. It was the second-­driest wet on record in the Northern Territory,” she said.

“There are no leaves left on the gum trees. It’s startling. Quite confronting.”

Marie said she had adequate water and would produce a “medium” crop.

“Which is pretty good. It’s all through human intervention, it’s not nature helping us.”

With higher-than-usual temperatures predicted, Marie said the focus was on looking after their staff, and the mangoes, during harvest.

Manbulloo was one of the first to jump on board with the Federal Government’s seasonal worker program back in 2008. They were part of a pilot program.

“About 70 per cent of our workers are returnees,” Marie said. “We certainly look after them, but they look after us too. This has been our business plan and strategy. It’s about attracting the right people and retaining them.”

The picking season is well under way across the Manbulloo farms. It’s the first time in about five years her fruit will be heading to Japan.

“Up until around 2012, we were exporting quite successfully to Japan,” she said.

“Around that time a new post-harvest treatment which was needed to reduce fruit rot growth in mangoes was introduced.

“Post-harvest fruit rot management is a good risk management exercise, so the fruit is given extra support for the long journey, ensuring fruit rot development is minimal.

“Japan was the only country in the world, that I know of, that didn’t update their post-harvest requirements to allow this procedure.

“So that’s why we have been out of this market for several years.”

SHOP SHAPE

THE time-frame from Northern Territory paddock to Japanese plate takes about two weeks.

“There is quite a complicated protocol involved to send Australian mangoes to Japan, and it is a long supply chain,” Marie said.

“The system involves many steps incorporating the Australian Government, Japanese inspectors, transporters, freight forwarders. There are a lot of different steps in the process. We ensure the fruit is temperature managed, so it arrives fresh and ready to be ripened.”We ensure the fruit is temperature managed, so it arrives fresh and ready to be ripened.”

While export markets bolster her business diversification, the bulk of the Manbulloo fruit is sold domestically in Australia, exclusively through Coles.

The business was awarded a Coles supplier of the year award in 2015 and a Korea Business Award in 2017. In 2015, Marie received a Telstra Business Women’s Award.

Sustainability and protecting the environment is a major focus for Manbulloo.

They have invested in two large-scale solar power energy facilities to increase irrigation efficiency and are committed to improving management of inputs and waste both on its farms and through the supply chain. They have recycling, reusing and renewing strategies, including the type of packaging they use, the use of leftover mango skin and seeds.

The overarching goal is to cut their energy consumption per tree by 20 per cent by 2021.