The Ecuadorian mango season has got off to a slower start than normal, but total volumes this year are expected to end up similar to the previous campaign.

Yamil Farah of the Ecuadorian Mango Association told FreshFruitPortal.com that the industry had so far shipped almost one million boxes fewer than last year due to "prolonged winter rains".

The rains limited the trees' ability to produce flowers as early as they normally do, he explained.

The situation is expected to delay the season by around two weeks, with peak volumes likely to come in week 49 instead of week 47.

"We are expecting volumes to increase towards the end of October or the first week of November. We think that in November we will have strong supplies," he said.

Overall, Farah expects total exports will be on par with the 2018-19 season.

"Last year we were close to 14m boxes of 4 kilograms each (around 56,000 metric tons). The expectation is that this year will be similar because the production of the trees is the same. The issue has been the rain," he said.

Around 90% of exports will likely be sent to the U.S., with much of the remaining fruit going to Canada.

Ecuadorian mango quality focus

This season the Association has been carrying out an intensive campaign to ensure quality standards are met, Farah said.

"That may differentiate us from the rest of the competition and might have slightly delayed the production because we are assuring the quality is good," he said.

Farah added that overall the fruit this year was of good sizing and color.

In addition, he mentioned that the country's political crisis had created some logistical challenges. However, the season delay meant that only small volumes of fruit had been affected.

Neighboring Peru recently announced it is expecting a 20% uptick in volumes this season to around 210,000MT.