The lack of quality is due to the amount of rain this year compared to last year. This has stopped the fruit from getting a better colouration to keep with the reputation that Mexican limes normally have for being dark green colour fruit. The quality of the Brazilian is also said to be far from perfect just now.
"We are now approaching the fruit that has been harvested from the second flower on the trees and that is showing signs of a much better quality in terms of colouration according to the reports we are getting from the source. We should start seeing these arriving in Europe in the next two weeks and hopefully that will boost again the sales on limes," explains Pedro.
San Gabriel UK mainly deal in Mexican limes, and will only take the Brazilian fruit when there is none available from Mexico. The company grows 600 hectares in Martinez de la Torre in Mexico, and managed to escaped any serious damage from hurricane Isaac, which affected orange and grapefruit plantations in the country.
San Gabriel UK ships around 13 containers of limes to Rotterdam every week, 45-50% of that then is trucked to the UK mostly for pre-arranged programs with the supermarkets.
The company is responsible for 30% of limes shipped out of Mexico to Europe. Returns for the last 3 years have been increasing due to the expansion that San Gabriel has seen in Europe.
