Storms in Mexico favourable for Brazilian limes

Mexico's lime production has been drastically reduced due to the recent storms, considered some of the worst in the past forty years, with heavy hail, snow and rainfall over much of the country.

"Luckily, the lime market has improved," points out the Dutch importer Joey Deen, of Denimpex. "The very limited availability of Mexican produce has resulted in the European market receiving Brazilian limes almost exclusively."

As pointed out by Daniel Briso, of the Brazilian exporter ARGOFRUTA, "prices started to increase this week, mostly due to the rising temperatures and scarce Mexican supply."

"Until last week, we were shipping to Europe the same volumes as last season. Right now it is raining; the long drought we were suffering has been left behind and the situation for limes is more promising," explains Daniel Briso, adding: "As a company, we have large volumes of limes ready for export."

As reported by Joey Deen, these rains have slightly delayed the harvest duties, and thus Brazil has so far not been shipping sufficient volumes to meet European demand; as a result, high prices are expected this season.

Regarding the Brazilian domestic market, "prices rose slightly in Easter, but we are in season, so there is good supply of fruit in the market," affirms Daniel Briso, of ARGOFRUTA.

Prices so far are considered normal and they are not expected to fluctuate much until the season nears its end, in the months of June and July.