“Limes are gaining in popularity”

After a considerable slump in recent months, the lime market is now recovering. The summer weather is definitely to thank for that, and besides, the consumption of limes is generally increasing.

“We’ve had some tough months. Late February to mid-April, the market wasn’t good,” says René Bouman of FMI. “Brazil supplied as much as 30 to 40 per cent more than the year before. Plus the fact that it was very cold throughout Europe, resulted in very bad prices: around 3 or 4 euro in that period. Late April, the lime market started recovering and prices went up, at one point they sky-rocketed – our branch is just like a rollercoaster! Prices are currently around 7 or 8 euro. These are prices both importer and exporter are happy with.”

Mexico started supplying limes to the European market late in May. “For some months, very few limes where shipped from Mexico to Europe, because the market in the US was very good. The US is closer to Mexico than we are, so that market is much more appealing to them than Europe. Brazil was on the market with decent volumes for some weeks, until the country started striking a few months ago. All of Brazil stopped working, and not much was shipped in that period. Some importers shipped limes with aeroplanes, but these limes are very expensive. In the end, the exporters sold part of their limes in their own country, just to be rid of them. The decent volumes shipped in May will be well absorbed by the European market,” René says.

“Consumption of limes is increasing globally. Brazil is the largest limes exporter of the world, followed by Mexico. Colombia, Peru, Guatemala and Vietnam have also tried gaining a foothold with limes on the European market in recent months. More and more countries see the good in limes, and they start growing and trying to export them. Yet it’s not bad the lime supply is increasing, because demand for limes is also growing globally,” René says. According to the importer, limes aren’t competing with other citrus, such as lemons. “Lemons can’t be compared to limes, which have their own character with a delicate herbal flavour.”

“Summer is about to start, and we can’t complain about spring either, we’ve had good temperatures. This naturally means the lime consumption increases. Because our Royal Fresh Limes are of high quality, much of these are meant for catering. Limes are well-known for their popularity in cocktails such as Mojito, Caipirinha and various beers. But limes have also done well because of the health trend of recent years. Limes are used increasingly often as an alternative for soda. Water with a bit of fresh-squeezed lime is refreshing, thirst-quenching and very healthy,” René says.

“Mexico started shipping more again, and quality of the first limes we received from Mexico was excellent. It rained much in Mexico, but this didn’t negatively affect the quality of the limes. Compared to Mexico, Brazil had a bit of a dry spell: this affects the colour of the limes somewhat. Nevertheless, I feel positive about the coming season. We work in a dynamic branch, every day is different,” René concludes.

FMI

René Bouman