The sound of waves crashing, the smell of a freshly popped bottle of sunscreen and the taste of sweet, juicy mangoes – the tell-tale signs that summer has arrived. We hate to rain on your summer parade but we’ve just copped wind that the beloved fruit of the warmer seasons, the mango, is going to be in low supply thanks to some unusual weather patterns.
Speaking to Channel 7, Favco Farms manager John Nardi said the very mild Queensland winter has affected mango crops. “There just hasn’t been the right conditions for us to get the crop that we would like to see. Much warmer than normal winter conditions — not enough of a chill,” he said.
“We need a certain amount of chilled weather, cool weather, to get the trees to go into their induction phase which actually causes the flowering.”
The light at the end of the tunnel: Nardi assures stone-fruit lovers that there should be supply coming through a little later than we normally see. “We’ve had a little bit more chill in north Queensland that’s pushing out a bit of flowering now, but if that actually sets fruit or holds fruit, it’s going to be unusually late.
“Likely to be closer to a Christmas start for the far north Queensland crops if they come through.”
As the old supply-demand graph goes, getting your hands on mangoes may be more expensive than usual. Given budget constraints on households amidst the cost-of-living crisis, mangoes might be a delicacy that drops off the weekly shop. In addition, the higher cost of mangoes may result in your fave restaurants and bars upping their prices. Cue $150 mango daiquiris.
There should be plenty of other produce options for you to fall back on – while a strawberry may not evoke the same energy as a mango, punnets are around the $1.80 a pop mark right now, so go the strawb daiquiri instead.