Lemon and lime prices are skyrocketing in Mexico
The people of Mexico and the lemon form an intense, almost sensual connection. Citrus fruits are an integral part of daily meals. The carefully quartered citrus fruits are more important to many people than the salt in the soup: they are squeezed out over filled corn cakes, raw vegetables, the soup, mineral water and tequila, they go into the beer and the Alster water and of course plenty into the avocado cream guacamole. In Mexico, lime juice is even drizzled over ice cream and candy. And the shamans swear that there is hardly a better remedy than combining honey and lime.
Tripled in one year
No wonder the fruit vendors in Mexico City say, “It’s impossible for us Mexicans to go without lemons.” The annual per capita consumption of 15.1 kilos is significantly higher than that of avocados (8.1 kilos), the other staple food. However, in these latitudes it is not the thick yellow lemon that is preferred, but the small green lemon.
But as dear as the population is to lemons, they are also expensive at the moment. According to government data, the price has nearly tripled in a year, and in January alone it rose nearly 70 percent. A kilo of the fruit now costs just under four euros. And so the lime crisis has something of a national emergency about it.
As a result, people fear a further rise in prices even more than the explosion of the Omicron falls. The news shows, talk shows and hot social networks are all about one question: why is our staple food suddenly so expensive?
Organized crime also plays a role here. In the main growing area in the state of Michoacán, the cartels have long been in charge. They force growers to sell to them at the prices they set. They also demand protection money for transporting the limes to the wholesale markets. Many farmers have since given up. Added to this are the consequences of climate change, such as unusual night frosts and intense rainfall, which have led to crop losses. Ultimately, fertilizer prices also doubled in less than a year.
For those selling corncakes from street stalls, the prices are a balancing act: Fewer lemons? Or earn less? “We don’t want to limit the lemons because they’re essential to people,” says one taco bruzzler. “But now a kilo costs the same as a kilo of meat. We earn practically nothing there.”
