The imported lime market from Mexico looks a little tighter as it wraps up its winter season. “Here in the last four or five days, the volume of limes has decreased and the market is starting to increase. There are just not many limes on the trees,” says JB Cutsinger of Burlingame, Ca.-based International Citrus & Produce. “They’ve had a decent market and they’ve now stripped the trees pretty good and there’s not much left. Just a little gap they say from now until the end of the month.” The limes that did come in were looking slightly smaller—more on the 230s and 250s side, notes Cutsinger. The limes came in from three or four growing areas throughout Mexico although Cutsinger adds there may be some limes coming in from the Honduras and domestically, Miami. “But here on the West Coast, we don’t pay much attention to that,” he says.
Demand is rising
Meanwhile demand is heading upwards. “We’ve got better weather here now in Northern California so demand is picking up. We just had so much rain over the past month or so and people are finally drying out and getting out and temperatures have increased. So we’re seeing an uptick in demand,” says Cutsinger.
And of course as the crop decreases before the April volume arrives, prices are increasing. “We’ve seen small limes go from the $16 to $20 to $22/carton and now it’s up to $24 to $26 on small limes,” Cutsinger says. “The 175 to 200 counts are going from $28 to $30 and there might even be some $32 quotes out now. And 110 and 150 counts have also increased in the last five days to about $10 a carton to $26-$28.”
So for the time being, Cutsinger says he sees prices continuing to rise, just like the demand. “The consumption of limes here over the past few years has increased dramatically,” he says.
For more information:
J.B. Cutsinger
International Citrus Produce
Tel: +1-650-342-4525
jbc@icproduce.com
http://www.internationalcitrusandproduce.com/