US lemon supplies come from multiple origins, but this year the imports look a little different for some companies. Ronnie Cohen of Vision Import Group says: “Generally during this time of the year, we import lemons from Spain. But the new tariff imposed on products out of the European Union has complicated that. It made for good markets in Europe and so it wasn’t worth the risk for the Spanish producers and exporters to bring their product to the US. So this year we switched things around and have a co-packing arrangement with domestic growers in California.”
Good demand on lemons
The market this year for lemons was a bit flat before the pandemic. “It started out good, then it flattened out because there was a really robust crop this year with large size lemons early on in the season and the movement stymied,” Cohen explains.
The outbreak of the pandemic has boosted citrus markets throughout the world, and Cohen is seeing it happen to the lemons in the US as well. “The perception is that citrus is a great source of vitamin C – which it is, of course. So, since the crisis the citrus demand and sales have gone up. The prices went from low to decent and there’s been more movement on the product than usual. We expect that this trend will continue into summer, not just for the lemons but for the fresh produce category in general. After all these challenges I think people will recognize the value of eating healthily and will continue to do so,” he says.
Argentinian lemons into US delayed
The Argentinian lemon season has started, and usually Vision Import Group would begin importing the Argentinian lemons this week. Unfortunately, due to the virus this has been delayed. “They are having some challenges down there because the government has put restrictions on the workers as precautionary measures against the spread of the virus. They are working through that right now, but this will delay some of the product coming to the US.”
“Fortunately, they see good demand in other parts of the world so they’re able to shift that product to other destinations and it won’t go to waste. We expect to start receiving the product about a month later than usual, at the end of May or early June, and it’ll continue to come in through July and August, depending on what the markets look like. After that, we switch over to the Mexican program, which starts in July and runs through December and January,” he shares.
Limes from Veracruz continue to arrive
There were some reports that lime harvests in Veracruz, Mexico, had come to a halt due to the virus, but Cohen hasn’t seen evidence of this. “Our people haven’t stopped. When the initial panic-buying began, the prices were driven up high and a lot of product was shipped in as a response to that. Then that high demand didn’t last, and so there is too much volume on the market right now. But these ebbs and flows are quite usual in the lime market,” he says.
There was supposed to be a production gap for the limes between March 15th and April 15th, but it never came. Cohen says: “Two weeks ago, 700 loads were brought in and last week, 350 loads. So, there’s a lot of product on the market, which is usually not the case around this time of the year. But even in regular times, there’s pushes and pulls in the lime market. All we can do is gather our info and try to asses where the market might go, but there’s no predicting it,”
This week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in many Latin American countries. This is the week preceding Easter and often comes with holidays for the workers. “Generally speaking, it’s a holiday, and so we’re expecting a bit of a vacuum in the imports this week. There could be some shortages that will last through to next week because of this,” Cohen concludes.
For more information:
Ronnie Cohen
Vision Import Group
Tel: +1 (201) 968-1190
Email: [email protected]
www.visionimportgroup.com