Characteristic mango price forecasting using combined deep-learning optimization model

Accurate product price forecasting is helpful for scientific decision-making and precise industrial planning. As a characteristic fruit that drives regional development, mango price prediction is of great significance to several economies. However, owing to the strong volatility of mango prices, forecasting is vulnerable to uncertainties and is very challenging. In this study, a deep-learning combination forecasting model based on a back-propagation (BP) long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network is proposed. Using daily mango price data from a large fruit wholesale trading center in China from January 2(nd), 2014, to April 18(th), 2022, mango price changes are learned and predicted to support the fruit industry. The results show that the root mean-square error, mean absolute percentage error, and the R(2) determination coefficient of the BP-LSTM combination model are 0.0175, 0.14%, and 0.9998, respectively. The prediction results of the combined model are better than those of the separate BP and LSTM models. Furthermore, it best fits the actual price profile and has better generalizability.