Mangoes are one of the most-coveted tropical fruits coming out of Asia, largely due to the sweetness of its fruit flesh and the strength of its aroma.
Unfortunately, mangoes have had an unusually difficult year in terms of production with yields dropping drastically due to climate change and pest infestations.
Fruit agriculture and exports make up a major proportion of economic growth in Taiwan’s Tainan province, but the region also fell victim to poor weather conditions in the past harvest year, leading to a significant drop in yield.
“Mango production is down by approximately 60% to 70% this year due to the weather – but this result in quantity has led to an increase in the quality and nutrition of the remaining 30% to 40% of mangoes that were successfully harvested,” Tainan mayor Huang Wei-che told us during the launch event in Singapore’s NTUC FairPrice.
“This means that all the mangoes we are exporting this year are considered limited-edition and prices are expected to be somewhat higher as a result, but consumers can expect very premium quality.”
Tainan has three flagship mango variants: Irwin mangoes renowned for a strong aroma and juiciness; Jin Huang mangoes which have much smoother flesh texture with low fibre content; and Xi Shi (西施) mangoes with more a delicate texture.
“Singaporean consumers previously placed a lot more focus on the aroma of mangoes to determine the value and quality, but since different Taiwanese mangoes with various textures were introduced, there is now much higher appreciation for aspects such as the mouthfeel and fibrous content of the mangoes,” Taiwan Ambassador to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan added.
“We all know that consumers here have a sweet tooth when it comes to fruits, and we do capitalise on this when it comes to our pineapples, but for mangoes such as the Jin Huang variant, the smooth texture really helps it to stand out.”
Taiwan is going all-out with its marketing at NTUC FairPrice supermarkets across the country, looking to make the most of its presence in the nation’s largest and most-recognised retail chain.
“Despite the limited quantities, we are pushing these mangoes out to as many FairPrice outlets as possible because we are confident that these will be popular with consumers across various demographics,” Tung said.
Mangoes around the world
Mango season has generally been bad across the world this year, with global supply at low levels.
Apart from Taiwan, producer markets such as Peru, Spain, and Pakistan have been hit by climate challenges including colder or warmer-than-average temperatures affecting flowering or fruiting, pest issues and more.
Africa has also faced issues such as heat stress on the plants and a fungal disease called anthracnose bringing yields down.
Fruits across all seasons
After its success with pineapples and mangoes, the Tainan government is hopeful that it can achieve similar interest with fruits like pomelos and jujubes, which are harvested at different times of the year and so would create year-long trade opportunities.
“We have received strong interest in our fresh jujubes, which are as big as apples weighing about 250g to 300g each,” Tung added.
“These are winter fruits, and we also have pomelos which are autumn fruits and mangoes which are summer fruits, and we do believe there is even stronger potential across all of these for Singapore and Tainan to establish even stronger trade ties,” said Huang.
