It is the month of May and time for the UAE to say hello the ‘king of fruits’. The one-week Mango Passion festival has opened at Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre LuLu Hypermarket with as many as 68 varieties from 15 countries on offer. Ahmed Balhaif, western region director of Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, inaugurated the festival, cutting a massive mango cake, distributed to the customers.

The hypermarket has created a mango yard for visitors to walk-in and enjoy the great varieties in one space. The annual festival has seen LuLu Group import more than 250 tonnes by sea and air. The hypermarket has brought in big quantity of commercial varieties like ‘king of mangoes’ Alphonso, Badami, Rajapuri, Thottapuri, Kesar and Himapasanth – all of which has always been in good demand in the past.

There are also varieties based on size too with big mangoes like Ammini, Gudadath, Rajapuri and small ones like Sugar Baby all set to be the main attraction. This is a special treat for the expat population as mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines, and the national tree of Bangladesh. “This is mind blowing. I haven’t seen anything like this ever,” Ronish Phillip, a customer, said.

Apart from the UAE, mangoes are from India, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

“Many of the variants are new for many customers. This year we are promoting three varieties of organic mangoes from India and one from the US,” Abubaker TP, LuLu Group regional director, said.

The price per kilo ranges from AED 5.95 to AED 59.95, Raji OS, hypermarket general manager, said. The festival runs till Tuesday, 16th May, 2017.