Customers and suppliers alike have been left with a sour taste in their mouths after a perfect storm of natural and criminal elements has caused local availability of limes to drop, and their prices to rise to unprecedented levels.
Super Value Food Stores Limited has cut back on its lime purchases by 50 percent over the past three weeks, after seeing the price of a box of limes rise from $19 to $115, inflation attributed to a disastrous combination of droughts, blights and the influence of Mexican drug cartels on the global supply chain.
Up from a low of 19 cents per lime, the fruit has now reached a price of 69 cents per lime in Super Value, a level described by Super Value President Rupert Roberts as simply "ridiculous". Meanwhile, Don Carnine, general manager of Bahamas Food Services (BFS), a supplier for many local restaurants, said he has "never seen it this bad for so long".
The inflation is increasingly forcing customers to look for alternatives, said Carnine.
"A lot of people in the market have switched from limes to lemons, or bottled lime juice for marinading. They are quite a bit cheaper. It's really a pure availability issue."
Roberts said he has advised many of his customers to do the same, and has increased purchases of lemons by 60 percent.
"We had to cut back on our purchases because people just aren't willing to pay for them at that price, and we said to the public, 'Look, we have lots of lime juice at the old price,' and so we suggest customers switch to juice, but the ones who have to have it will have to pay the price, there's nothing we can do."
Citrus inflation has been impacted by what is going on in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where a hike in lime prices due to a severe drought, which was followed by a bacterial disease, and a harsh winter, did their part to increase the price of limes. The situation has gotten to the point that some are now terming the fruit "green gold".
With nature having played its role, the Mexican drug cartel known as the Knights Templar stepped in and began hijacking lime trucks and demanding ransoms from farmers, or at worst, killing farmers outright.
Both Carnine and Kyle Cummings, executive vice president of Sun International Produce, Super Value's supplier, said that they do not project that lime prices will begin to fall until after the Cinco de Mayo holiday in Mexico, which is also celebrated in the U.S., with plenty of lime juice-based drinks.
"The supply is next to nothing. It's probably a third of what it was, and people are paying the price," said Cummings.
He added that, unlike with other agricultural commodities which tend to fluctuate more in price, limes have been a traditionally stabled commodity when it comes to pricing, and so his company never locked in a contract for limes that would have sheltered it from the current volatility.

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