During the first half of the year, the lime market was rather fickle. "In the past weeks, we've seen the classical pattern again, with prices of Brazilian limes going up, and Mexico - traditionally a major exporter to the US - waited for the prices to reach normal levels. Around May, the lime prices increased like crazy to 12 Euro, but this barely lasted three weeks, when the market declined fast. Then the market got saturated and ended up in the pits, to a level of around 4.50 Euro, with the superfluous volumes selling for 3.50-4 Euro," says Corrie Visbeen of Total Exotics.
"At the moment, it seems the market is slowly recovering. Currently the market price is around 5 Euro, and the price is expected to increase further, because supplies to Europe are significantly decreasing. And sunny weather is always good for lime sales," says the importer, who has been with Total Exotics for two months now. "Also remarkable is that the quality of the Mexican limes isn't that far off from the Brazilian ones this year. Because of the weather conditions, Brazilian limes aren't as deeply green as in other years. Because of this, prices for both origins are at roughly the same level, while normally there's at least a Euro between them. Also, due to the higher import tariffs for Brazilian limes, the difference in cost price between Mexico and Brazil has decreased."
