"Netherlands: "Limes in price dip throughout summer"

"Summer is the season for limes and prices are normally at a high level. The price dip usually follows in September. This year it’s different,” says Sean Harrison of Satori Holland. "We have been in a dip for the whole summer and there have been few fluctuations in price. This is caused in part by the fact that there are a lot of suppliers on the market and some of them offer their products at prices which are too low.

At the moment, approximately half of supplies come from Mexico and the other half from Brazil. “There will probably be less coming from Mexico next week due to hurricane Isaac. After that, the market will improve for a bit.” It’s not that there is no demand at the moment,” indicates Sean. “The market continues on. Limes are sold anyway. But the price is dominated by others who drop their prices when they aren’t able to sell their merchandise. Even though we are slightly higher priced, we still sell enough. We find it important to deliver our products fresh, and people are willing to come back because of that. Market prices are between 5.00 and 6.50 at the moment, depending on freshness, origin, and quality.

“Every week we hope things will improve. Sometimes it happens that prices are good at the beginning of the week, but then the prices get disturbed by other suppliers by the end of the week. We expect an improvement next week as there will be less supply coming from Mexico. Hurricane Isaac raged through an important lime region. It’s difficult to predict how things will be in the days to come. As long as Brazil and Mexico send more than the market can take, the market will stay the same.”