Is the lemon market just about to get tougher?

The UK lemon market is stable at the moment at around 20-25 pounds per box depending on size, this is a good price according to Ben Butler from Jem Fruits. The company sources its lemons in South Africa and have imported around 10 -15 containers so far this season. At the moment they are only importing one container per week, normally it would be 2-3 per week but volumes for the European market are down due the black spot issues and EU regulations which say anything with black spot needs to be sent back. So a lot more is going to the Middle East.

He hopes with UK pulling out of Europe that in a couple of years black spot will not be an issue.

Ben said they have been trying to load more lemons today but due to rain, the quality is not up European standards so nothing is getting loaded. Argentina is having the same problems with quality and supply from there is slowing down, but there are some lemons getting loaded from Bolivia.

"The price being paid for lemons is great for grower returns. Buying fruit from South Africa works on an auction system where everyone puts in a bid and the fruit goes to the highest bidder. The price is high and will only get higher if South Africa and Argentina are stopping. With it still being a few months till Spain starts, the market will get very tight," explains Ben.

They would normally sell more lemons in the summer as the weather gets better, and as Ben said there is no substitute for a lemon, possibly a lime would do in some cases, but those are also highly priced and hard to come by at the moment.

For more information:
Ben Butler
Jem Fruits
Email: ben@jemfruits.com