The Philippines has a surplus of more than two million kilos of mangoes following a bumper harvest.

The country’s agriculture secretary said the extra mangoes were the result of a “dry spell caused El Niño”.

The El Niño phenomenon occurs naturally and has a major influence on weather patterns around the world.

The government has launched a marketing campaign in a bid to sell one million kilos of the fruit in June before they begin to rot.

Emmanuel Piñol told the Manila Times that there was “currently a surplus of about two million kilos of mangoes in Luzon”. He said the last time stocks were this high was “after the El Niño of 2015 and 2016”.

In some areas mangoes are selling for as little as 20 pesos (£0.30).

Mr Piñol also accused a dried mango exporter based in Cebu of contributing to the high stocks after it stopped purchasing local mangoes and chose to use fruit from overseas.

The Department of Agriculture is set to hold a workshop for mango growers in Luzon to help improve their standards to enable them to pass export requirements.

Diamond Star Agro Products, a Japanese fruits importer, has said it is looking to buy 100,000kg of the fruit this season.

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