Limoneira offers full scope of lemons and limes

It has been a good year at retail for lemons and limes, and Limoneira has been in prime position to fulfill demand.

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Limoneira Co. sources lemons from California, Arizona, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and South Africa. The company offers limes from Mexico, Peru and Colombia, said Alex Teague, senior vice president and chief operating officer. This season, Teague said there will be balanced to strong lemon supplies on medium to small fruit, with occasional gaps on medium to large fancy fruit through the end of the year. Parts of Mexico have been hindered by weather, as have parts of Argentina, Teague said. “With the foodservice (sector) still not fully recuperated, lemon supply is fully capable of covering needs across the board,” he said. Meanwhile, Teague said weather and possibly disease pressure has hurt the Mexican lime supply.  “The bloom cycle has recovered a bit and is expected to come back into line over the summer, but we will have to see on that one,” he said. “The real issue on limes out of Mexico is the effect of HLB (huanglongbing, also called citrus greening disease) and its true impact on all the citrus,” he said.  The disease can take off in the hot, humid areas where limes are grown. Limoneira also offers a limited supply of organic lemons, and a very limited volume of organic limes out of Mexico, he said. The company has a new organic lime program with supply partners in Peru.  “We are just beginning this year and looking forward we will have much more consistent supply,” Teague said.

Retail strong

Retail support for lemons and limes received a big boost with the start of the pandemic a year ago, Teague said. Lemons saw about a 40% increase in sales across most of retail a year ago, he said. That has since slowed a bit to more like 6% to 10% above historical norms, he said.  “We are very encouraged by our Take a Healthy Stand and Nature’s Pharmacy Programs,” Teague said, adding that the marketing message of health benefits has  been very strong with lemons. “We still believe that the short and long-term health benefits of lemons is unmatched.” Limes also continue to trend higher at retail over the past year, Teague said, but the commodity has experienced more of a roller coaster ride because of supply chain interruptions.

Foodservice coming back

Teague said in mid-April that foodservice demand has been coming back very slowly since mid-March. “Actually, it is more of a week-by-week stair-step increase due to the fact that the restaurant/bar managers don’t know what their flow is so their ordering patterns are very erratic.”

Packaging options

Limoneira’s packaging and bag options are many for lemons and limes, Teague said. Limoneira’s pink lemons, a special hybrid variety with interior flesh that is light to medium pink, are seeing increasing demand and retail promotions, he said. “We are really beginning to see more programs on our pinks as the trees mature and volume becomes available,” he said. “Primarily we are packaging the pinks in bags, clamshells, and small consumer packs.”