Brazil’s mango boom another unexpected effect of Covid-19

With its floral aroma and juicy, sweet flesh, the mango is considered by many to be the tropical fruit par excellence. Highly sought after around the world, supermarket chains buy the succulent fruit from three different continents: at the beginning of the year, they largely come from Peru, before imports switch to West Africa, Israel, and Egypt. And, at the end of the year, the world’s best mangoes are found in Brazil.

Brazil is the world’s seventh-largest mango producer, and the country has never exported as many of the tropical fruits as it did in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country sold 243,200 tons of mangoes last year in deals worth USD 246.9 million — 10 percent more than the volume and value of exports recorded in 2019, according to data from the government’s Comex State trade statistics platform.

The survey shows that, up until May 2020, the value of Brazil’s mango exports was largely in line with historic trends, but the numbers shot up as the pandemic intensified around Europe and North America — hitting heights not seen since 2012. Fittingly, the U.S. and European Union nations were among the biggest buyers.

This boom involved several factors, from the devaluation of...