As of January 2015, the first batch of Peruvian Mango were imported to China, with more to arrive by air to the Chinese market.
The Peruvian mango type that is imported to China is 'Kent' or 'Sun Mango' as it is called in Chinese. Currently there are three companies in Shanghai that are running mango export businesses from Peruvain suppliers.
16 pallets of Peru mangos arrived today in the wholesale market, with a price range between 350-380 yuan. Coupled with a small amount of inventory, the retailers' order volume is not that big, a majority of them started only buy ordering a few boxes.
The harvest season of Peruvian mango is from December until July of the following year, which is later than Australia mango (whose fruit variety is called R2E2, and only a small amount belongs to Kent variety). This avoids perfectly the competition between these two varieties. However, due to the long distance between Peru and China, the sea shipping time is generally between 38-45 days, even by air, it takes about two days due to transit. Moreover, the Peruvain mangos need to go through heat treatment (i.e. a heat treatment at 30 ℃, for 50 minutes), and upon arriving in China, the quality risks exist, especially in terms of storage. Therefore, even though all the Peruvian mangos come to the Chinese market by air, so far there are no exporters who are willing to try sea shipment.
In addition, even though some companies have engaged in mango export business to China, only one packaging factory in Peru can offer the heat treatment and packaging service.
According to the consumers' comments, Peruvian mangos are sweeter in taste and their qualities are comparable with Australian mangos. Though listed in the same period, China Hainan mangos, namely narcissus Mango and Color Mango, are smaller versions. Therefore the Peruvian mango sales price remains quite high thanks to no competition in the Chinese market.
Currently narcissus Mans (about 3.5kg per pack) costs around 60-70 Yuan, while Color mangos (6-7kg per pack) cost around 100-110 Yuan.
