Mangoes to cost less?

This is the time for heat and scorching sun. Sweat is a perennial partner but this unpleasant time is also the time to bite into juicy hapoos or alphonso mangoes.

Said to the king of fruits, this uniquely fragrant mango has been priced only for the king too! Last year, those who wanted to get a taste of the mango before the full season, had to pay a price of anywhere between Rs.2000 to Rs.2500 per dozen. Thus it was unaffordable for most who preferred to wait tiill more harvest came in and the prices too came down. But this time around, we hear that the first harvest mango prices have come down to Rs.1000 per  dozen and those in the mandi say that the prices will come down further to around Rs.600 levels. This price fall is despite the expected fall in production due to the poor weather conditions in the Konkan belt. Ratnagiri, the main mango state of India, is expected to report a 40% drop in production and overall production is expected to come down to 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes from 25,000 tonnes last year. The falling price is thus explained by lack of export orders from UK, USA, Europe and Dubai.

Does this mean that it is export orders which drive the price for us Indians? Once export orders start coming in, maybe prices will get hiked?  Well, for now the prices are down though not yet cheap as we are paying over Rs.83 per mango currently. Is that price worth the bite? Or have our scales of measuring what is affordable and what is not has go for a complete toss?