Mango season heating up in the Northern Territory as industry continues to expand

The mango season in the Northern Territory is heating up, with farms around Darwin's rural area reaching their peak harvest period.

More than 200,000 trays were dispatched from the NT last week, but that will soon double as more farms ramp up and harvest gets underway in the Katherine region.

President of the NT Mango Industry Association, Leo Skliros, said this year's season had faced plenty of weather-related challenges, including a long run of cooler than average nights and a lot of fruit lost to gusty winds and fire.

"The NT's overall mango crop is going to be down on original forecasts," he said.

"It's probably going to be around 4 million to 4.5 million trays, which is still a lot of mangoes.

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"It seems to be warming up now and at our place this afternoon it'll hit 40 to 41 degrees, which is actually hotter than I would like.

"But that will start pushing the fruit along and I think towards the end of this week you'll see most farms [around Darwin] getting into their main pick, and probably mid-next week hitting peak production.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-10-03/northern-territory-mango-season-heating-up/11568336

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