Booming demand for South Asian mangoes in Alberta

In recent years, the South Asian population in Edmonton and Calgary has boomed and this has coincide…

In recent years, the South Asian population in Edmonton and Calgary has boomed and this has coincided with a growing demand for mangoes. The juicy, sweet fruit is grown across India and Pakistan in the summertime and is shipped across the world to countries with large South Asian immigrant and diaspora populations.

By the way, Edmonton and Calgary are no exceptions. South Asians form the largest immigrant group in Alberta, with around 35,000 Indians and Pakistanis arriving between 2011 and 2016, according to Statistics Canada. While there has been a recent uptick in immigrants from the Philippines, the longer trends of South Asian population have created ethnic enclaves in neighbourhoods in Edmonton’s southeast and Calgary’s northeast.These neighbourhoods are ground zero for an ongoing boom in the mango business in the province.

Thestar.com quoted Vinny Bindra, manager of grocery store The Spice Centre, as saying: “The demand is phenomenal.” Since opening in 1990, the demand for mangoes -which the store carries from late spring until early fall- has skyrocketed. Whereas they used to sell 50 boxes in a week, nowadays they manage to sell the same amount in one day. Demand can top 500 boxes a week.

“Mango season at our store is fantastic every single year, especially this year we started getting varieties that we weren’t before,” said Bindra, who receives a weekly shipment of mangoes from India and Pakistani that are flown by air freight.