The International Mango Organization (IMO) has announced the possibility of very limited containers from the Peruvian port of Paita for the next three weks, after discussions with shipping line executives.

IMO executive director Will Cavan told Freshfruitportal.com it had heard about the shortage from conversations with Maersk, CSAV and Dole Ocean Cargo.

"Shipping lines are turning down spot orders and have restricted space availability by as much as 70% until the container supply can be organized," he said in a release.

"This comes as a blow to Peruvian Mango exporters who have over a month left to ship. The silver lining to this dark crowd is that markets in USA are in the $3.00 range with Mexican Volume increasing do not spell a good time to come to market."

"The challenge now is for Peruvian Mango growers to find a source for the excess production either in the pulp industry or local markets. One alternative is to ship fruit to Europe via Truck to Ecuador and on to Europe. The immediate impact will not be felt in the marketplace for a few weeks as Peru has sent major volumes combined with Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua which are all starting up."

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com