Crop tipped to surpass 15 million trays

Last season the industry picked an unprecedented 10 million mango trays. The two recent seasons are not so much a sign of bumper yields, but of the increasing number of new mango plantations starting to mature and produce commercial quantities of fruit.

Mr Gray said a lot of mango trees had been planted across Australia in the last 10 years and the extra volumes were helping the industry.

"It means that mangoes are the premium summer fruit in the marketplace across the country," he said. "That scale we have now makes us important to consumers and our retail customers. "We see our national production exceeding 15 million trays in the next five to 10 years, so there's another 50 per cent growth to happen in the medium term."

Mango marathon not profitable for all growers
Mr Gray admitted there had been weeks this season where growers struggled to make a profit.

"When we don't get it right we get depressed prices and this year again we had examples of fruit in the market that exceeded what the demand was," he said.

"So we didn't get it perfect and every year we continue to strive to improve what we do."

Growers in northern Queensland faced a glut of fruit hitting the pre-Christmas market brought on by an unprecedented heatwave in late November.

Mareeba growers, John and Deb Nucifora, started picking at the start of December and are still going 12 weeks later.

With about 20,000 trays of Brooks mangoes still to pack, Mr Nucifora said the finish line could not come soon enough.

"You get more of a sense of achievement when the season brings you top dollar," he said.

"This year's been a hard fight all the way through so we're looking forward to the end. We've had enough now."
Australia's mango production is so geographically spread out these days, that mango lovers will not have to go without for long.

The first mangoes of the 2019/20 season will be picked in the NT in July/August.