President’s Message

As we reflect on 2022, we would like to welcome you all to what we feel will be a rewarding and enjoyable 2023. We hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the festive season with your families, and we are pleased to see you all back in the Melbourne Market.

This year we have much to look forward to with the Fresh State Gala Ball on 1st April, Hort Connections in Adelaide from 5th-7th June and the Fresh State Golf Day in October. As the year progresses and these events unfold, we look forward to greeting many new and familiar faces.

The first edition for 2023, Issue #66 of the Fresh State of Affairs Magazine, will explore the growth of the global Fruit & Vegetable Market, Grant Nichol’s bike ride from Alice Springs to Darwin in an effort to raise $100,000 for The Pat Cronin Foundation, and other areas such as: Making fruit & vegetables fun for kids and 10 ways to Enjoy Strawberries.

We hope you find it to be an enjoyable read and may 2023 be a prosperous year for all!

Shane Schnitzler President Fresh State Ltd.

Oversupply sees Mango prices plummet, consumers urged to buy more!

Mango prices have plummeted to as little as $1.90 per piece due to an oversupply of the popular, summer fruit, Chief Executive Officer at Australian Mangoes, Brett Kelly, claims.

The oversupply has been caused by an overlap in harvesting season, with growers in the Northern Territory regions running behind, corresponding with the Northern QLD starting earlier than expected after a hot, humid Spring. With three times the usual volume appearing at the Melbourne Market, Peter Tran of ‘Produce of Virginia’ explains that prices have plummeted!

Whilst consumers can celebrate, growers may struggle to make ends meet under these conditions Peter says, “You sort of feel for them,” especially as “fruit quality has been fantastic” this year.

“A lot of them won’t make it to next year, as a lot of farms are for sale and it’s unfortunate.”

Paul Burke, Chief Executive of Northern Territory (NT) Farmers says, “There’s a lot of fruit not even making it to market, it ends up in the juicing markets, which is a very last resort because of the return growers get,” and urges consumers to buy more mangoes this summer.

Compared with sale prices of $20-$30 per tray the same time last year, the oversupply has resulted in sale prices as low as $5-$10 per tray.

“I haven’t seen a season like this in 10-12 years. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen these prices,” Mr Kelly explains that there has been a “crossover of more mangoes hitting the markets at the one time,” and says that “puts a bit of pressure on price”.

“There will be a tremendous amount of volume over the next few months, so consumers will be able to get their mangoes and I know from past experience, they will support Australian farmers as they work hard to produce the best mangoes in the world,” he said.

“Our message would be to go and get yourself a mango daiquiri tonight and support the little blokes up here.”

Pia Piggott, a Horticulture Analyst at RaboResearch, claims that whilst an oversupply has occurred, production is only up 14% on the previous year.

“This isn’t going to be the biggest mango season we’ve ever seen, the 2018 season was a record season, with 83,000 tonnes of mangoes. Mango production has in-fact seen a decline since 2018.

“Since then, there’s been a decline in production due to weather conditions. Last year, in particular, we saw a large decrease in production volume”

“That’s what is making it seem like there’s so much of a supply – but this year won’t compare to the 2018 year.”