Supplies of limes are low coming out of Mexico. “It’s that time of year when production somewhat decreases due to winter but it hasn’t been as bad as last season. They’ve had a pretty good steady supply of limes,” says Eddie Caram of New Limeco.
While historically Mexican limes were predominantly coming out of Veracruz, the Yucatan is also growing limes as well now. “Some growing areas have been affected by the bad weather in Mexico but I don’t think it’s affected limes as much as it has other produce. The weather may have slightly affected some flowering for new crop,” he says.
Mexico is now into those new crop limes now. “It’s the dark green limes and there’s low humidity so there weren’t as many stylars for example. It’s much better weather for picking and the quality improves with that. From now until April it’s the greener looking limes that are more uniform and last a little longer because it’s new crop,” says Caram.
Other producing regions
Two other regions are also increasingly shipping limes regularly--Colombia and Peru. “Colombia is playing a big part in supplying limes right now. It used to just supply in our winter months, January to March, but they’ve been coming with limes weekly,” he says, adding New Limeco also brings in limes from Honduras.
As for demand, limes have been seeing good demand year round but the lower supply also means demand is stronger. New Limeco also recently invested in a bagging machine given the increasing amount of bagged limes it is doing.
In turn, lower supplies and good demand have led to higher pricing. “The market got a little sloppy in January but the prices and demand are getting better again. Right now the market is in the high $50s and it’s expected to go to the mid $60s--but not too much higher than that--in the next few weeks. In March of last year, it got as high as the $80s,” Caram says.
For more information:
Eddie Caram
New Limeco
Tel: +1 (305) 258-1611
[email protected]
www.newlimeco.com