Alphonso, also known as hapus, is widely considered to be among the best mango.
A trader in Pune has bought a crate of the famous Alphonso mangoes for Rs 31,000 during an auction. The trader has claimed that it was the most “expensive buy” in 50 years.
Traders participated in an auction when the first lot of mangoes start arriving at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard. As per the traders, the bidding is a significant practice as it decides the trajectory of trade over the next two months when the mango season officially begins.
In a YouTube video, a garland of flowers can be seen kept on the mango crates and people are praying before it, hoping for bumper trade this season.
“These are the first mangoes of the season. When the first lot comes to the market, they are auctioned in this way and traders try to get hold of them,” said the person who bought the crate. He added that landing the initial lot of mangoes is always good as it helps traders get a heads-up in the wholesale market.
The auction, this year, began at Rs 5,000 and went up to Rs 31,000 per crate.
Alphonso, also known as hapus, is widely considered to be among the best and referred to as “the king of mangoes”. In Maharashtra, the Alphonso production is mainly restricted to Konkan and Ratnagiri districts.