A case of missing Mangoes

While some varieties like the king-sized Rajapuri didn’t make it to the market at all,others like the Badami and Lalbaug have been hit by a peculiar lack of demand,merchants at the Mumbai Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) market,Vashi,said.

According to the traders,the drop in demand,especially for mangoes coming from the southern market,has not only hit the prices but sales too have plummeted to almost half of last year’s. The southern varieties coming to Mumbai include Badami,Neelam,Sundari,Rumali among others.

Even the otherwise well-accepted Paira Aam saw very little demand,they said. Rajapuri,meanwhile,has only a 10 per cent presence in the APMC market yet. Market sources said that like every year,about 4,000 tonnes of other varieties arrived in the market this year too but only about half of that reached the retail sector.

Predictably,at the Crawford Market,Mumbai city’s largest wholesale market,there is a clear monopoly of Alphonsos with just a small sprinkling of Pairi. Vendors sitting amid mountains of Alphonsos said,“Different varieties of mangoes are present in the Vashi market though in small quantity this year. But people want only Hapus,and we don’t want to experiment with other varieties.”

Raju Kanpuri,a merchant dealing with several South Indian varieties,including the parrot-beak shaped Totapuri,and the Badami at the APMC,added that the market for southern varieties have been the worst-ever this year. “Yeh saal halat kharab hai,” he said,“I have been dealing with these varieties for the past 10 years but it has never been this bad. It’s not because of lack of produce but due to lack of demand.”

According to Kanpuri,Totapuri,which was sold for Rs 15-16 per kilo last year,is being sold for Rs 10 this year. Badami,which cost about Rs 25 last year,is being sold for Rs 15-16 this time. He is already counting his losses,which,he believes,has touched Rs 10,000.

Now as the Alphonso season draws to an end by May 25,and the season for the popular Langda and Dusheri begins,dealers are hoping that their sales would pick up. Langda,Kesar and Dasheri are brought to Mumbai from both Gujarat and Muradabad. “Overall,there is a 20 to 30 per cent drop in the arrival of all mangoes from Gujarat,thanks to bad weather. Varieties like Kesar,which came in good quantity last year,have remained almost invisible this year. On the other hand,UP seems to have had a great yield,” said Sanjay Shinde,a fruit merchant and commission agent for the past seven years. He said that now with Alphonsos phasing out,there is a good chance for the sale of the June-July varieties of mangoes being good.

Meanwhile,Sanjay N Pansare,director,AMPC market,denied that there was a fall in the demand of mango varieties this year but said the business was being affected due to “fake” South Indian Alphonsos,which are sold as the superior Ratnagiri and Devghad Alphonsos,especially in the far suburbs of Borivali,Goregaon and Malad. “These mangoes,which barely cost Rs 35 a kilo,are sold as Alphonso for Rs 400-500 a dozen. Customers should buy mangoes from APMC registered vendors so as not to get cheated.”