“Mexican mango demand seems to be very, very active,” Chris Ciruli said on Cinco de Mayo. Production volume is reaching its peak in the southern regions and demand is up. In an odd twist, “Demand is bigger after Cinco de Mayo than it was before," he said. "We’re very grateful that mangos have been moving.”
Ciruli, who is the CEO of Ciruli Bros. LLC in Rio Rico, AZ, credits the work of the National Mango Promotion Board for boosting mango demand. He also said, “maybe we’ve hit a trifecta, with Cinco de Mayo, then Mother’s Day, then rolling into Memorial Day. Maybe it’s the way these holidays are lining up. I have no official data but maybe people are going to the stores more often. I am optimistic that this is going to be the way it is until the end of May.”
Ciruli said June is the month of greatest supply for the Mexican mango deal. “We’d better be shoveling with both hands” to move mangos, he dryly observed. July 4 is the peak of summer mango sales, Ciruli added.
Mexican society in early May was hitting its peak in Coronavirus infections
Mango harvesters mostly come from southern Mexico, and they view more northern growing areas as more dangerous with a higher frequency of Covid-19. Nayarit, a major mango producing area, will hit its peak May 15 and there has been some difficulty in getting workers to make that northward move, Ciruli said.
Ciruli implemented social distance measures to protect its workers in the field. “We saw a decline in productivity at first,” but the workers adjusted, and performance has returned to typical levels.
While major terminal markets in the Northeast have continued to operate through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ciruli noted that small wholesalers and street vendors in major cities were shut down. “We hope that by mid-May that part of demand comes back. But the market is good, and we do not have all of our distribution in place!”
Ciruli is not only a major shipper of Mexican mangos, but also distributes many Mexican vegetables. “Eggplant has been an anomaly. We’ve had better movement and higher prices after Easter, and that never happens,” he said. Eggplant prices were in double digits for three weeks. “We’re almost done with eggplant. It’s 100 degrees in Culiacan” and so eggplant production is on a fast seasonal decline.
“Cucumbers are moving at lower numbers. But that’s one of the things we’ll have in production for the next several weeks," he said. "It’s moving and I’m optimistic on it.”
In Nogales and south Texas tomato crossings, demand has exceeded supply, Ciruli noted. Prices are high because volume has been down because of inspections forced by the Tomato Suspension Agreement. “But prices are definitely higher. Tomatoes are moving very well.”
Ciruli said the Nogales area has been fortunate to have very few COVID-19 infections. As temperatures in Nogales are beginning to hit 100 degrees, he said it’s becoming increasingly a challenge to occupy his three homebound children: “How many weeds can they pull?”
