Veraval: It seems that the Kesar mango lovers of Gujarat won’t be disappointed this season despite fear perception of not-so-better crop of this juicy fruit in parts of the state due to a few rounds of thunderstorms and non-seasonal rains during flowering and ripening period.

While the Kesar mango had made its first arrival in the market yards of Gujarat in the last week of March this year when it was sold in Junagadh yard yet the real flow has started now.

On the first day of its auction in Talala market yard in Gir Somnath district, one of the biggest centers of sell of Kesar mangoes, more than 15000 boxes (of 10 kg each) made its arrival today.

It was auctioned from a rate between Rs 400 to 700.

Mango traders in the yard said that looking at the initial trend, they expected that over 7 lakh boxes of Kesar mango would be auctioned this year.

They said that initial trends showed that there was not any big impact of the non-seasonal rain etc on the Kesar crop this year.

The Kesar mango, which is also a famous item of Saurashtra region of Gujarat like its Gir forests, the sole home of Asiatic lions, is sold at quite a costly rate of around Rs 180 to 200 a kg in retail market initially as against the peak season rate of Rs 30 to 60 a kg.

Kesar mango, one of the favourite of Gujarati lot, is also liked by mango lovers of other parts of the country. It is also exported.

DeshGujarat