Hurricane Otto has left Central America but things still look good for Mexican limes being imported to Canada. “In general supply is good and steady,” said Anthony Formusa, President of National Produce. The company distributes limes and other produce to the foodservice (hotels and restaurants) industry. “There’s no unusual interruptions with availability, which is good for this time of year. (Weather is) the kind of thing that could cause sporadic changes in supply and pricing.” Mexico is the main source of limes for Canadian importers and retailers. “Sometimes at this time of year we’ve had bad weather and sometimes unseasonable colder weather can cause the supply lines to go way down where we see prices as high as $50,” he said, although that would generally be in January or into February. Limes, coming out of Veracruz, are currently priced at a normal range.
There are other, newer, areas in Mexico outside of Veracruz that are growing more limes, including Colima and Jalisco. “We’re getting info from potential suppliers and people that are looking to introduce their product into our Canadian market from those areas,” said Formusa, though he feels thinking amongst importers is that Veracruz is better quality. Prices should remain normal over the next little while. “Expectations are that prices will remain steady with no increases that we know of over the next couple of weeks,” he said. Imports continue to arrive weekly. The full Challenges
Consumption seems to be slowly on the increase. Formusa says consumers still need to get comfortable with using limes in cooking and baking. “It’s still a product that a majority of use is in cocktails. Lime as an ingredient hasn’t gone mainstream (here). As that trend continues I think we’ll see an increase in consumption but that will be due to more Canadian consumers using them in their recipes.”
