After a period of high import volumes putting pressure on the European market, a Dutch produce company says prices have now recovered thanks in part to a lull between seasons. 

Bud Holland sales manager Jean-Marc Eikelenboom told www.freshfruitportal.com there had been an oversupply earlier in the month due to excess shipments from Africa and South America.

"In general at the beginning of August the market was very bad because of large volumes from Brazil and West African countries like Senegal and the Ivory Coast," he said.

Sales had also slowed down a bit in the summer due to increasing local summer fruit production, he said.

As well as volumes declining naturally due to the seasons reaching their close, Eikelenboom said some shippers had reacted to the poor market conditions and had ceased exporting early.

"The returns were so bad that they stopped sending, because the meaning of doing trade is that you earn money and not lose it," he said.

"So they stop sending and then a couple of weeks after, what happens now is that there are not enough mangoes. So the current situation is that the market is going up a little bit ."

The representative said Israel was currently the main supplier into Europe, with Spain also filling some of the gap in the market.

He added volumes could also be found in Mexico during the summer, as well as smaller quantities from the Dominican Republic.

Supply from Brazil is expected to pick up again in the fall, and Eikelenboom said although production may be impacted by the drought conditions gripping much of the country, there shouldn't be any market issues in Europe.

"There are more than enough mangoes in the world. It is not that tight that I think there will be a really big shortage," he said.

Eikelenboom also mentioned there had been more of a focus in the Brazilian mango industry recently on the Palmer variety, in an attempt to bridge the supply gap left at the end of the Tommy Atkins season.

"They wanted to fill that up to stabilize the market a bit. Palmer is a well-known variety, but not everybody’s in favor of it," he said.

The representative said demand had been steadily increasing in Europe over recent years, which he believed was largely due to the economic situation improving in many countries and giving consumers more disposable income to spend on 'luxury' fruits like mangoes.

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