The North American lime market has been on a roller-coaster ride for much of 2010, following adverse weather late in 2009 which has made for a relatively light fruit set throughout Mexico’s lime groves in Veracruz.
“FOB prices are averaged between US$36 to US$42 (on the Texan border) for large-sized fruit (counts 110, 150 and 175) from mid-March to the middle of May,” Raúl Millan of the Vision Import Group told Fruitnet.com.
“The industry has had to supplement the market with fruit from Guatemala and El Salvador to a greater extent than usual for this time of year,” Mr Millan added.
Guatemala shipped 941 tonnes of fresh limes to the US between January and February 2010, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), marking an increase of 168 per cent over the same period in 2009.
“However, the market came way off during the last few weeks of May, when Mexico returned with a new crop of fruit,” said Mr Millan.
In early June, FOB prices (in Texas) for seedless limes ranged from US$20 for fruit sized count 110 and US$16 for count 150, and fell as low as US$5 for count 250.
According to Mr Millan, the market will difficult for the next couple of months until Mexico’s volume begins to lighten up again.
“At that point, we should see the market begin to rise again and continue to strengthen through September until the next crop arrives during the fall,” he explained.
Mexico is also now starting to ship limes to Europe, which is expected to help to stabilise the North American market.
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