European mango market

  • Published on 4/04/2017 - Published by GERBAUD Pierre
  • FruiTrop n°247 , Page From 36 to 36
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Still on the rise

European Union mango imports are on a non-stop increase, having smashed in 2016 the 300 000 t of imports threshold, long considered unachievable. If we add the Spanish shipments, the total amount would be nearly 336 000 tonnes. However, European consumption remains lower than in the United States, which imported nearly 465 000 tonnes in 2016 despite having a smaller population than Europe.

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In 2015, the European market touched on the 300 000-tonnes mark for mango imports; and actually beat it if we count the quantities shipped by Spain. In 2016, the 300 000-tonnes threshold was beaten, with 316 700 tonnes, rising to 336 000 tonnes if we add the Spanish shipments. While this is a positive rise in a still uncertain economic context, it is nonetheless well below the US, which imported nearly 465 000 tonnes in 2016. The gap is widening between these two essential markets for the mango, though the US population is smaller than Europe’s.

The logical deduction from examining these figures is that mango consumption is lower in Europe than in the United States. The proximity of producer countries such as Mexico and the North American sphere of influence in Latin America are explanations for this exponential increase in consumption. There are other fundamental factors also supporting this trend, especially the large population of Latin American origin residing in the United States, and the communication the product enjoys. The Latin American population forms a base or driving force for mango consumption, a common product in their countries of origin. The mango marketing sector, meanwhile, has funding and solid structures in place, enabling intense and targeted communication which seems to be effective. Associations issue communication in numerous fields, such as food, sport and education, promoting the nutritional assets of the fruit or its positive contributions and methods of use. The mango, like the avocado, also enjoys wide-ranging audio-visual communication, extending even to advertisements during the Super Bowl, a target particularly sought after by companies given the audience obtained by this sports event.

mango - EU - main importer countries in 2016
mango - EU - main importer countries in 2016
mango - USA and EU - evolution of imports
mango - USA and EU - evolution of imports

Apparent consumption disparities in the EU

In the European Union, mango consumption is distinctly more mixed between Member States. The United Kingdom and Germany stand out from the rest in terms of volumes imported. The Netherlands also appears to be an essential import market. As a merchandise recipient thanks to its port infrastructures, it takes in a large part of European fruit imports. Hence the figures attributed to this country need to be studied with care, since they can lead to errors of interpretation, with the majority of Dutch imports forwarded to other European countries or neighbours.

The apparent consumption of the main European Union countries (imports - forwarding / population) is also worthy of interest. Again, the bulky Dutch figures, and to a lesser degree those from Belgium, would appear from experience to be exaggerated. Conversely, the figures for the other countries appear more likely, and can be used as a basis for analysis. Portugal is apparently the country with the highest mango consumption, of long standing. Conversely, this consumption evaluation has changed little over the past decade. Portugal holds the European consumption record for the mango, at around 1.4 kg/capita/year, very much comparable to the US figure. The German and British markets come next, with 0.7 and 1.1 kg respectively, with a positive trend over the past decade. The French market is on the up, though much more slowly, with barely 0.5 kg/capita/year, a figure far removed from banana consumption for example. The Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) are at nearly the same level with one-third the population. Italy remains far behind with one of the lowest European consumptions. As for Spain, it is difficult to give an indication as to its consumption, insofar as it is also a mango producer. The dynamism of certain European countries in terms of mango consumption, and the sluggishness in others, hints at an as-yet untapped development potential. Judging by the overall rise in European imports, further progress remains a distinct possibility.

mango - EU - consumption in 2016
mango - EU - consumption in 2016

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