Long winter may push up Alphonso mango prices in Gujarat

With summer all set to hit Ahmedabad, the king among the fruits in the season, mango is likely to eat away your money more this year.

As of now, Totapuri and mango from Kerala have started arriving in Ahmedabad wholesale fruit markets and the price is bit higher. But in case of Alphonso of Junagadh and Talala mango yard, the fruit is delayed by a month.

Delay and higher demand is likely to make the Junagadh alphonso expensive by 100% or double the previous year’s price. Last year, the Alphonso from Junagadh was sold at around Rs250 per box which had 35 to 36 mangoes.

“This year, it is too early to predict, as flowering has just begun due to prolonged winters. But due to corporate company’s contract farming, the mangoes availability in domestic market will be less. Secondly the arrival is delayed which may result the cost of the 35 mangoes box to be more than Rs500 which was Rs235 to Rs250 last year,” said Vallabh Chothani, president of Talala APMC Yard.

Usually, the mango from other parts of the country starts arriving to Ahmedabad fruit market by mid February.

"This year it is delayed by a fortnight. Two days back, we got Totapuri and Gola Keri at rate of around Rs70 per kg. Last year, the price of the same breed was around Rs50 to Rs55 per kg. But it looks like that the Alphonso will be delayed by a month," Kamlesh Rangwani, secretary, Ahmedabad Wholesale Fruit Merchant Association, said. 

Meanwhile in Vadodara, Alphonso mango has arrived, with a box of dozen, selling for Rs1,200 to 1,300. Bhupendra Kachhiya Patel, a fruit and vegetables dealer, said that supply was still low, and last year the first box of alphonso mangoes had sold for Rs800. This year the Alphonso is expensive by 50% in Vadodara.