The price of limes sky rocketed towards the end of July when they got as high as £9-10 a box. That price was not sustainable and they had dropped to just £5-6 by mid August. They then dropped as low as £4, if the quality was not good.
This is not uncommon with limes, which are similar to pineapples in this sense: when prices get high everyone starts shipping and the market crashes. There were also many climatic issues to deal with in Mexico even before the earthquakes and hurricane hit, which led to quality issues, and fruit was even arriving rotten.
One UK trader said that it is picking up a bit now and getting back to £5-6, depending on quality, but there is still fruit arriving which is a bit on the yellow side.
"We have some stock left which we are trying to sell before we have to dump it. Limes do not keep the same as other citrus fruits, it only has around 10 days shelflife. We have a new shipment coming in this week which is already pre-sold; so as long the quality is good it will just go straight out."
As well as Mexican lime there are also limes from Brazil and Guatamala which have been fairly good.
