Indian mango season calendar for UK buyers, February to August

When are Indian mangoes available in the UK?

Indian mangoes are available to UK buyers from February to late August. Alphonso from Maharashtra's Konkan coast opens the season and finishes when the monsoon arrives there; West Bengal varieties then take over, with Himsagar in late May and June, Langra in June and July, and Fazli and Amrapali through July and August.

The Indian mango season calendar below is the one used for the Britbasket mango programme. Each window is when the variety is harvested and shipped from India. Air-freighted lots reach UK buyers soonest and sea-freight lots arrive later, so shelf dates trail the shipping window.

Character notes follow the official GI specifications for Alphonso, Himsagar and Fazli, the Banaras Langda GI file for Langra (which describes Uttar Pradesh fruit), and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), which bred Amrapali.

Why does the season move from the Konkan coast to West Bengal?

The season moves east because Alphonso on the Konkan coast must be picked before the monsoon, while the main Malda varieties are mid-season and late-season mangoes that ripen from June into August. That handover from Maharashtra to West Bengal is what lets a UK programme run beyond June.

The registered Alphonso specification says harvesting runs from the end of March until the monsoon sets in, giving a March to May season. Alphonso trees flower in three flushes. The first, in late October and November, carries 15 to 20% of the crop. The second, in late November and December, carries 35 to 40%. The third, from the second half of January into February, gives the largest fruit set. Fruit is ready 110 to 120 days after flowering, so the first flush produces the small February lots and the later flushes supply the main harvest.

In West Bengal, the Malda GI specifications class Himsagar (registered as Khirsapati) as a June mid-season variety and Fazli as a July to August late variety. A district gazetteer passage quoted in the same file gives the local ripening order: Gopalbhog and Brindaban first, then Langra and Himsagar, with Fazli second to last.

Which mangoes are in season each month from February to August?

February and March bring limited early Alphonso, April and May are the main Alphonso months, and June is the changeover to Himsagar and Langra. July belongs to Langra, Fazli and Amrapali, and August to Fazli and Amrapali.

• February: small early-flush Alphonso, mainly from Devgad in Sindhudurg district, in volumes that swing with the weather at flowering. In 2022 the Free Press Journal reported the first four boxes of Devgad Alphonso reaching Mumbai's Vashi APMC market on 29 January, even though rain and a cold wave had delayed the crop by two to three weeks. Treat February fruit as premium air-freight lots, not programme volume.
• March: Alphonso picking gathers pace from the end of the month. In 2026 an exporter quoted by FreshPlaza said early Alphonso arrivals from Maharashtra started on schedule in mid-March.
• April: main Alphonso volume begins. The programme plans its Alphonso peak around April; trade reporting places the heaviest arrivals between mid-April and late May, and no official source fixes a single peak month.
• May: Alphonso continues until the monsoon reaches the Konkan coast. The first Himsagar lots can appear late in the month, although the GI specification gives June as its season.
• June: the changeover. Late Alphonso ships only while the monsoon holds off, Himsagar reaches its main month and Langra begins.
• July: Langra continues, Fazli begins and Amrapali starts on the programme calendar. IARI gives Amrapali's maturity as the fourth week of July.
• August: Fazli carries supply to late August, alongside the last Amrapali.

How should a UK buyer plan an Indian mango buying programme?

Plan around the Alphonso peak first, because it is the most weather-exposed window and the monsoon can cut it short, then place West Bengal varieties behind it to cover June to August. Fly early and premium lots; ship volume by temperature-managed sea freight.

1. Commit to April and May Alphonso volumes before the harvest starts, and agree in writing what happens if the crop falls short.
2. Fly February and March Alphonso and any premium retail or gifting lines, where arrival speed matters more than freight cost.
3. Move volume by sea. Sea transit from India's west coast can run longer than the general storage life quoted for mango, so sea lots are planned around variety, harvest maturity and container settings, with the transit time confirmed at booking; see how to import mangoes from India to the UK.
4. Book Himsagar and Langra for June before Alphonso stops, because the Alphonso end date follows the monsoon, not the calendar.
5. Use Fazli and Amrapali to carry late-season lines through July and August.
6. Fix gateways and terms. Air lots can land at Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester or Birmingham, and sea lots at Felixstowe or London Gateway. Then decide who acts as importer of record by choosing between DAP and DDP terms for India to UK shipments.

Border rules in Great Britain, including mango's plant health status, labelling and duty, are covered in how to import mangoes from India to the UK. Buyers who want this calendar mapped against their own volumes can send us their months and quantities.

What moves the mango season dates from year to year?

Weather moves the dates. Rain or cold at flowering delays and thins the crop, an early monsoon ends the Alphonso harvest sooner, and cyclones during fruiting cause heavy fruit drop, so the calendar is a typical pattern, not a promise.

• Flowering weather: the Malda GI file notes that dry weather before blossoming brings heavy flowering, while rain during flowering interferes with pollination. The Free Press Journal reported that rain in late 2021 and a January cold wave delayed the first Devgad Alphonso of 2022 by two to three weeks.
• Monsoon onset: IMD recorded the 2025 monsoon setting in over Kerala on 24 May, against a normal date of 1 June and the earliest since 2009. An APEDA mango market dashboard published in October 2025 noted that unseasonal rainfall was raising quality concerns for Indian mango exports, and that Alphonso faced quality concerns in key markets such as the Middle East.
• Season-long climatic stress: for 2026, ThePrint reported government estimates of Alphonso production losses of 85 to 90% in Sindhudurg, about 70% in Ratnagiri and 60% in Raigad, after the monsoon ran until 10 November 2025, winter set in within days and flowering was erratic. ThePrint gave a similar 60% fall for Thane but described it as non-Alphonso fruit. The estimating department was not named, so treat these as reported figures.
• Cyclones: Tauktae tracked along the Konkan coast in mid-May 2021, during the last Alphonso picking, before crossing the Gujarat coast on 17 May, and Amphan crossed the West Bengal coast on 20 May 2020, before the main Malda harvest.
• Alternate bearing: the Alphonso GI specification notes that yield varies with climate and with on and off years, so one strong season does not predict the next.

Check crop reports each winter for Alphonso and each spring for West Bengal, and keep volume flexible at the edges of each window.

What does a GI tag guarantee on Indian mangoes?

An Indian Geographical Indication (GI) identifies fruit from a registered growing area and reserves the name for registered authorised users in India. It does not grade the fruit, guarantee its condition on arrival or fix a harvest window.

A GI covers only its registered area, so Alphonso grown in Gujarat or Karnataka, or Himsagar and Fazli from outside Malda district, is not the GI product. Under India's GI Act 1999, the exclusive right to use a registered GI on the goods belongs to registered authorised users, so a lot should be sold as GI Alphonso or GI Malda Himsagar only if its producer is one; the GI Registry lists authorised users on its application pages. The three Malda GIs are registered until September 2027 and fall due for renewal that year.

Does an Indian GI protect mango names in the UK?

No. As of October 2026, no Indian mango name is on the Great Britain register of protected food names, and the UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), in force since 15 July 2026, lists no geographical indications in its annex of protected names.

A search of the GB register on 6 October 2026 for Alphonso, Hapus, Malda, Himsagar, Khirsapati and Fazli returned no entries. The agreement's GI annex, Annex 13B, is empty for both countries, and names can only be added later through a joint process. Article 13.41 also allows either country to decline a name that conflicts with a plant variety name and is likely to mislead, which matters for Alphonso because it is also a variety name. Northern Ireland follows the EU GI schemes instead.

Names are contested inside India too. As of October 2026, the Valsad Hapus (Gujarat) and Shivneri Hapus Mango (Pune district) applications are opposed at the GI Registry, and a Chittoor Alphonso Mango application (Andhra Pradesh) was filed in August 2026. Himsagar alone does not prove Indian origin either: The Daily Star reported in 2019 that Bangladesh had registered Khirsapat (Himsagar) of Chapainawabganj as a Bangladeshi GI.

Labelling rules, including the country of origin in full, are covered in how to import mangoes from India to the UK. For sourcing, put India on the box and the growing district in the contract: ask for Malda Khirsapati (Himsagar), India, or Alphonso from a named Konkan district, not a variety name alone.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

1. India GI Registry, Application 139: Alphonso (status, area and specification)
2. India GI Registry, Application 112: Malda Khirsapati (Himsagar) Mango
3. India GI Registry, Application 113: Malda Fazli Mango
4. India GI Registry, Application 111: Malda Laxman Bhog Mango
5. India GI Registry, Application 716: Banaras Langda Aam (Mango)
6. India GI Registry, Application 830: Shivneri Hapus Mango (opposed)
7. India GI Registry, Application 1058: Valsad Hapus (opposed)
8. India GI Registry, Application 2137: Chittoor Alphonso Mango (filed 11 August 2026)
9. IARI ZTM-BPD Unit: mango varieties and hybrids (Amrapali)
10. ICAR, Indian Horticulture, July and August 2021: IARI mango hybrids including Amrapali (Dashehari x Neelum)
11. Press Information Bureau, 7 June 2026: APEDA facilitates first export of fresh mangoes from Jharkhand to the United Kingdom
12. India Meteorological Department press release, 24 May 2025: monsoon onset over Kerala
13. India Meteorological Department: normal dates of monsoon onset and withdrawal (2020)
14. India Meteorological Department: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Tauktae report
15. APEDA mango market intelligence dashboard (published October 2025)
16. APEDA Farmer Connect: mango season and storage profile
17. Free Press Journal, 29 January 2022: first batch of Devgad Alphonso arrives in Vashi APMC
18. FreshPlaza, 2 April 2026: strong mango season in some belts, weaker in Alphonso regions
19. ThePrint, 24 April 2026: A summer without Alphonso
20. The Daily Star, 28 January 2019: Khirsapat wins GI tag
21. GOV.UK: protected food and drink names register (search for Alphonso)
22. UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, TS 30.2026, Volume 4 (Annex 13B)
23. GOV.UK: Comply with marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. Border, tariff and plant-health rules change. Check the sources above before relying on this guide for a specific consignment.