Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 7: The countdown has begun for the king of fruits to hit city markets. While several markets are already flooded with some mango variants, mango aficionados are biding their time till the second week of April when the market is full of naturally-ripened mangoes unlike the earlier, artificially-ripened batches.
“Green mangoes are already available in the markets across the city. While they are in demand, they are not meant for ready consumption as they are often used for making pickles or homemade drinks,” said Gayadhar Swain, secretary of Unit-I Haat Traders’ Association.
“Several varieties of ripe mangoes are also available in the market, but they don’t find many takers as they are artificially-ripened mangoes. The real ones start coming in by the end of the first week of April,” Swain added.
Mangoes cannot be transported to distant places once fully ripe, and so are usually plucked and transported while they are half ripe. Most mangoes are sold during this period, say sellers.
This season, the fruit is expected to be priced between Rs 30 and Rs 100 a kilo depending upon the variety.
“Mangoes usually arrive in the end of March or by the first week of April. The early mango consignments usually are products of artificial ripening. So I prefer to wait a while longer for the arrival of the naturally-ripened fruit,” said Chandan Behera, a resident.
According to vendors, the cost of the fruit will continue to remain high till the market is flooded with more mangoes. “It is all about demand and supply. In initial days (early April), supply will be less compared to the demand. But as more batches of mangoes start to come in (beginning mid-May), prices will start coming down,” another trader said.
However, agricultural experts are expressing concerns that the prices of the fruit may not go down by much this year due to unseasonal rain, which damages the mango crop and reduces supply.