The drop in production due to the weather and the difficulties being experienced by carriers in the state of Michoacan have caused the price of lime to increase by up to 300 percent in less than a month. A kilo currently costs 30 pesos.
In an interview, Sergio Ramírez Castañeda, president of the Mexican Lime Product System, warned that product prices could continue to increase in coming days because three of this season's major producing states (Colima, Guerrero and Oaxaca) has had delays and lost a portion of their harvest as a result of the weather.
He noted that Michoacan currently provides about 2,500 tonnes of lime per day, but that prices had increased considerably because of the scarce supply.
"We expect prices to be high for the rest of winter because Michoacán is the only state that hasn't been affected by the weather since it's not on the coastline," he said.
Rogelio Hernandez, a carrier of food in Michoacan, stated that carriers had been forced to take different routes for transporting their cargo because of the violence in the state and the narco-roadblocks. This, in turn, increases the time and costs of moving the product, as well as the likelihood of the products not arriving in the best conditions.
He also said that, despite the low temperatures, several truckloads of products had been lost in the last month making traders lose their income because they didn't reach their destinations.
Source: elfinanciero.com.mx