Mangoes will start coming into markets sometime next month. Growers, investors, traders, exporters and food companies all look set to make the most of the new mango season.

Mango output this year may cross 1.8 million tonnes after remaining below this mark for last two years, growers and officials of provincial agriculture departments say. And officials of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan project that exports should rise to 160,000 tonnes, from 140,000 tonnes last year.

Their optimism springs up from increased demand in the Europe and the Middle East, recent opening up of Australian market and hopes for reaching out to South Asia and New Zealand. Officials of Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company say an investment of about Rs1bn made by the private sector in mango processing facilities over the last two years will give export a real boost.

During this period, a few hundred progressive growers have also been trained under on-going research projects in Sindh and Punjab on improved orchard management. Officials of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research link prospects of better harvest to these and similar other projects wherein growers have learnt to increase output through canopy-cover and ring-the-tree management.

They say Punjab is expected to produce 1.4 million tonnes of mangoes and Sindh 4.1 million tonnes while a few thousand tonnes should also come from KP, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Balochistan.

In the local market, fruit dealers are anxiously waiting for the arrival of fresh mangoes which, they say, helps them fetch much fatter profits than any other fruit except kinnow.

“It’s all about available supply and demand,” says an Afghan fruit dealer at the main wholesale market located in Karachi on Super Highway. “Mangoes remain in high demand throughout the seasons, just like kinnow. We don’t have to fear for price crash after initial high demand as in case of other fruits.”

Small wonder that mango and kinnow orchards remain hot favourites of investors (a byword of old-fashioned middlemen) who buy the harvest of the two fruits in advance.

Market sources say mango harvests of small farmers were auctioned way back in January-February. “And 50pc advance that we’d received from ‘investors’ has already been spent. We’re now praying for initially assessed production of fruits which will entitle us to the remaining 50pc of harvest sales,” says Muhammad Hanif, an orchard owner from Nawabshah.

Payments to fruit growers varies depending upon the fruit, location and size of orchards and growers’ relationship with the investor. But the practice of auctioning of orchards months before the arrival of fruits has now taken roots. And new players have entered the game. “I’ve bought this year’s harvest of a few mango orchards in Tando Allah Yar,” says Muhammad Waqas, a Karachi based businessmen.

“In fact, many businessmen who have cash surplus to spare for a few months invest particularly in horticulture crops and make big profits.”So, “it’s time for growers to get final payments for their harvest but for us it’s time to make those payments and cut deals with fruit traders to sell mangoes a few weeks in advance.”

In recent years, a couple of fruit exporting companies have initiated joint ventures with mango and kinnow growers to ensure constant supply of quality fruits at the peak of the season. “Unlike ‘investor-grower’ duo it’s more formal and reduces the role of middlemen, who themselves are investors or find ones on behalf of growers,” says an official of PHDEC. “Now to take this one step further, PHDEC (that comes under the Ministry of Commerce) has signed a joint venture with Durrani Associates, a fruit exporting company to push up fruit exports in a big way.”

It is through this joint venture that a deal was finalised, late last year, to export 15,000 tonnes of mangoes to Australia. Those involved in this deal say this year they hope to begin mango exports to New Zealand and South Africa as well. A dozen fruit exporters plan to export more mangoes to European countries after getting clues in Fruit Logistica held in Berlin in February about increasing demand for Pakistani mangoes.

“Recent investment of a billion rupees in mango processing technology has also been crucial in helping exporters to diversify export destinations,” says an official of PHDEC which partnered progress in some of these projects. Most recent example is import of a mango processing plant worth Rs200 million which has raised the number of such plants to three, owned by just one single company.

Part of the estimated Rs1 billion-investment in technology has been made by food companies involved in production of branded mango juices. These companies not only sell one-litre juice packets in the local market but also export them mainly to Afghanistan and the Middle Eastern countries.

The USAID says it has spent $25 million to improve mango economics. It is working with SMEs to help control mango-diseases and set up additional cold storages and hygienic packaging facilities. It has also provided technical assistance for developing market linkages, capacity building and acquisition of international certificates required for exports.