Israeli mango growers are reporting heavy financial losses this season following the collapse of exports to Europe and extreme heat that accelerated ripening and fruit drop. Large volumes of fruit have been left unharvested due to uneconomic production costs.
Robert Amrosi, a grower from the Galilee managing 200 dunams of orchards in Moshav Migdal, said: "I left over 100 tons of mangoes on the trees to rot and fall because harvesting them would cost more than we could sell them for." He noted that while 100 tons were harvested, the economics did not cover costs. "Packing costs two shekels per kilo, harvesting another shekel per kilo, and I only got two shekels in total," he said. Amrosi added that over 100 tons remained on the trees because the returns did not justify picking.
The shift in the European market played a major role. Israeli mangoes previously relied on Europe as a primary destination. After the United States imposed tariffs on Brazilian mango imports, Brazilian exporters redirected fruit to Europe, displacing Israeli volumes. At the same time, the closure of markets in Gaza and the West Bank, which absorbed an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the crop, added to the oversupply in domestic channels.
Weather conditions further aggravated the season. "We had temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius for a week, which caused the fruit to ripen and fall," Amrosi said. He explained that input costs for water, fertilizer, and orchard management reach around 6,000 shekels (US$1,570) per dunam, excluding harvest and packaging expenses. "I'm losing nearly one million shekels (US$262,000), and many other farms won't survive. Finance Minister Smotrich must intervene," he stated.
Growers say the combination of blocked exports, reduced market access, and heat stress has created a market imbalance with low prices that fail to cover costs, leaving the future of many orchards uncertain.
Source: Y net Global