Going bananas over mangoes
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The mango season is here again and the city residents are making the most of the easy availability of the King of Fruits. City’s major markets - the Connemara market at Palayam and Chalai market are witnessing soaring sales of mangoes.
An aroma of fresh mangoes greets you when you enter the space occupied by fruit vendors in Connemara market. People belonging to different ages can be seen buying fresh fruits to recharge themselves from dehydration. Many buy them to prepare fresh juice at home.
Traders say the sales are encouraging and they are expecting it to go up in the coming days since the prices of good varieties have become affordable to the common man. “Prices are dipping. Kottukonam the ethnic variety of Thiruvananthapuram is commanding the highest demand in the market,” said a trader at Connemara market.
Increased production in the major producer states, including Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, is being cited as the reason for the fall in prices by the traders.
“The cost of mangoes is dipping since availability is more. The normal market rate of mangoes starts from Rs 80 and goes up to Rs 160 depending upon the variety of mango. Alphonso and Kottoorkonam are the other varieties in high demand,” said Saju, a trader.
“Alphonso, one of the superior varieties in terms of flavour and sweetness, has a good demand every year. This year it faces competition from Sindooram and Thiruvananthapuram’s own Kottukkonam,” he said.
Ethnic varieties include the naattu mambazham and pulissery mambazham are also in good demand.
The busy Chala market street is an epicentre of mango business in Thiruvananthapuram. The wholesale mango dealer of MMK agency Rajasekharan is jubilant over the business boom. He has been doing business for the past 15 years. “At present there are 36 varieties of mangoes available.
Hima Pasand and Alphonsa are the favourite choices. We don’t resort to artificial methods to ripen mangoes,” he said.
According to him, mango prices are falling and this has boosted the sales. “Sindhuram and Meganagali, which are fine varieties for making juices are in high demand. We don’t use carbide or Calcium to artificially ripen mangoes. The fruits are kept in hay for natural ripening,” he said.
Balu, another vendor said the most selling varieties at his stall are the fibreless Sapota and Beganapalli mangoes are exclusively used for making juice. This variety is pulpy and delightful to tastebuds. Meanwhile, traders are worried over the volatile prices. Vendors Anil Kumar and Saju said many like them had to sell the fruits at the lowest price giving them little margin.