Supplies of Persian limes are looking tight.
“The market was being pushed up at the beginning of the year and now there’s very, very low supply,” says Rodolfo Uresti at Jade Produce in McAllen, Tex. “I’ve never seen it when it goes up in January/February/March, comes back down at the end of March beginning of April and then goes back up again. I’ve never seen that before and I’ve been in the business for 20 years.”
While the earlier push on the market was caused in part by rain affecting harvesting in Mexico, now other factors have layered into pushing the market up. This includes the longer time it takes for product to cross the bridge into the U.S. The tightness on supply started last week.
At the same time, demand is good on Persian limes. “The weather’s been better and that helps with the consumption of limes,” says Uresti. He notes that right now the market is between $40-$42 FOB.
Price drop to come?
Looking ahead, Uresti expects things to stay as is for the next few weeks. “I think the price will start coming off in around two weeks. It usually does right after Holy Week but it’ll take another two weeks because production and supplies are tight,” says Uresti.
Meanwhile Persian limes, along with mangoes and pineapples all under the Pink label, are a few of the things Jade Produce will have on display at its booth at Viva Fresh this year in San Antonio, Tex from April 25-27.
“We’re there trying to establish better relationships with our clients and looking for potential clients that want quality in their limes, mangoes and pineapples,” says Uresti.
He notes that smaller shows such as Viva seem to be attracting an increasingly larger audience. “They’re getting more and more people at the smaller shows. The bigger shows, it can take you the whole day to go through and sometimes you don’t hit the booths you’d like to,” he says. “In a smaller show, it’s difficult to not meet a person.”
For more information:
Rodolfo Uresti
Jade Produce
Tel: +1 (956) 682-5050
rudy@jadeproduce.com
http://jadeproduce.com