Farm Direct Partners talks future of lime imports

Lime prices are volatile, said Jackie Carrillo, executive vice president of sales of Jupiter, Fla.-based fresh produce grower-packer-importer Farm Direct Partners. Carillo and Dax Cooke, head of sales for Farm Direct Partners, recently spoke with The Packer about opportunities within the lime market.

Carillo said she’s seen a growth from one growing region in Mexico to several growing regions, as well as expanding lime production in Colombia and the rapid growth of sales in the U.S.

“It's growing double digits since the pandemic,” she said. “All citrus became super popular because of vitamin C, and pretty much all retailers are growing double digits since then. Colombia in the last six years, it grew 70%.”

Carillo said there’s been some volatility in lime imports from Mexico, which makes it high-risk for importers.

“Anytime that something happens, either in Mexico or the U.S., we are competing either with the domestic market in Mexico or with the international market in the U.S.,” she said.

Cooke said the future of lime imports is multi-origin.

“You've got peak harvest seasons in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala — all of the major lime-producing regions,” he said. “A multi-strategy approach, I think, is going to be the future for importers and distributors [and] retailers.”

He said he’s seen some retailers already make the switch from 95% Mexican limes to 50% South American and 50% Mexican.

Cooke said Farm Direct Partners ships about 65% to 75% of its base production from Colombia, with additional support from Peru and Mexico. As new routes open up, new lime import availability will become available, he said. Colombian fruit in the past has been only imported on the East Coast, but Farm Direct Partners recently shipped its first container of limes from Cartagena, Colombia, to Los Angeles, which is a nine-day transit route.

“You're going to see all origins available on pretty much both coasts,” he said. “You should be able to get 52-week programs on the West Coast, East Coast, from Colombia. Obviously, Mexico is already there, but that should be year round. Peru, actually, has an October to May harvest window for limes, but Colombia is certainly a 52-week availability [option] on the West Coast.”

Cooke said he’s eyeing Asia as a potential import location, but the shipping routes aren’t available just yet.

“The investment has continued into these new origins, and I think you're starting to see a lot of traction,” he said.

Farm Direct Partners is building a new lime-packing facility in Columbia, and he said he sees more plantings going in Peru.

“I think what's happened in the last 18 months was an experiment from a few of the large retailers to see if they could make it work, and it's leveled out their pricing,” he said. “It's benefiting the consumer and, but lime specifically is very elastic. If you drop the price, the volume of sales goes up, usually two to one. We've seen a lot of growth based on retail pricing dropping, and we've seen a lot of retail volume growth with our customers, which are mainly East Coast.”

Cooke says as volatility slows, he sees more growth for Colombian and Peruvian limes in the West Coast, too.

“Limes has been one of the drivers for our customers, bringing more customer traffic in by being able to offer, for example, four for $1 on limes and different pricing strategies just to create more foot traffic for retailers,” he said. “It's working. I know that a few of our customers have won some awards for their efforts to reduce inflation and food pricing, and the customer is starting to make a switch of where they shop, so it's definitely having an impact.”