California finger lime production is hitting peak right now.
“Finger lime supplies are ample. It’s the peak and I’ve been planting new trees every year so we’re supplied nicely. We have plenty of fruit to ship,” says Jim Shanley of Morro Bay, Ca.-based Shanley Farms.
The finger lime season begins in July and ends January 1st. “It’s a bell curve in terms of production—production peaks now and demand peaks at the holidays,” says Shanley. “It’s a little off from what we’d like to see ideally. The supply is usually tapering down by the time we have stronger demand.”
In terms of demand, Shanley says it’s showing little change…in a sense. “The distribution system hasn’t grown a ton. I don’t think there are a lot of new people getting in the game,” he says. “But the ones who are in are shipping more. We’re seeing most individual customers, their volumes are up anywhere from 10-40 percent.”
Eyeing overseas
At the same time, export opportunities also remain strong. “We’re actively shipping to Japan, China and some European destinations as well and we’ve had inquiries lately from Taiwan and Singapore. The export market is solid for us,” says Shanley. Given California is the only state with sizeable finger lime production, competition comes largely from Europe—namely Spain and some Mediterranean Islands.
“In terms of pricing, I do think there’s a bit of discounting in Europe going on--probably because it’s peak of season,” says Shanley. “There won’t be much need for that before the holidays when production is slacking off and demand is going up.” In the U.S., pricing has been stable and similar to last year.
Along with planting trees, Shanley is also bringing in new finger lime varieties from Australia. “We have our first green-fleshed fruit is starting to produce a little bit now. It’s not commercial quantities but we’ll probably have commercial quantities next year,” he says. “And the red-fleshed varieties, we’ll have our first trees next spring. Technically we grow the pink variety and when we get the right temperatures in cold nights, there’s a pink blush to the fruit. Otherwise in the summer the fruit is champagne-colored.”
For more information:
Jim Shanley
Shanley Farms
Tel: +1 (805) 323-6525
info@shanleyfarms.com
www.shanleyfarms.com