The Mexican mango deal will be building as March rolls onto our calendars.

Chris Ciruli, COO of Ciruli Bros. LLC, in Rio Rico, AZ, indicates his firm will begin receiving Mexican mangos around President’s Day – Feb. 20 - with customers receiving the first fruit about March 1. Although the 2023 deal began in the early weeks of January Ciruli doesn’t mind sitting out the early deal, with market interest in tropical fruit growing as cold North American markets begin to thaw in March.

Ciruli says 90 to 95% of the arrivals so far this season have been yellow mangos. Ciruli has long hung its hat on its yellow Ataulfo “Champagne” mango brand. But Ciruli is placing a greater emphasis on round mangos. Also, the firm is hiring younger buyers to receive organic mangos, so the firm can fill all mango needs on every truck headed north from Nogales.

From March 1 through Easter (April 9) the company will be shipping at full steam. The volume is greatly curtailed in the week after Easter each year because Mexican workers take a week of vacation before Easter very seriously. “It’s harder to get Mexican workers around Easter than it is to ask them to work Christmas week. So, we’ve told our customers for years, not to expect anything in the week after Easter.”

But Ciruli will be offering mango ads rounding the corner toward Cinco de Mayo. Mother’s Day and Memorial Day are other big promotion holidays for mangos. After Memorial Day, Mexican mango production will move north to Nayarit and the deal will finish through the summer from Sonora and Sinaloa.