In this installment of the ‘In Charts' series, Cristian Crespo of Agronometrics illustrates how the U.S. market is evolving. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

In this installment of “In Charts” we will take a look at the average prices of citrus fruits, specifically grapefruits, lemons, oranges and limes in the U.S. market in comparison to previous years.

Grapefruit

Starting with grapefruit, which showed a slight upward trend in the last weeks of this season, and prices well above those year-on-year. This same trend has been seen throughout most of the season.

Looking at the graph below, we can see that in week 51, the average price of conventional grapefruit was around $1.28 per kilo, a 22 percent increase year-on-year as the average prices were $1.05 per kilo in 2019.

The U.S. grapefruit market is supplied by Mexico, California and Texas.

Prices of non-organic grapefruit in U.S. market (USD per kilo)

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics) [Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]

Lemons

Prices have been higher year-on-year regarding lemons. The prices have been stable throughout the year and demand has grown significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic, with similar prices throughout the year, increasing slightly in recent weeks.

As can be seen from the graph below, in week 51 the average price of conventional lemons was $1.55 per kilo, a 17 percent increase from 2019 when prices were $1.33 per kilo.

Arizona, California, Mexico and Chile supply lemons to the U.S. market.

Prices of non-organic lemons in U.S. market (USD per kilo)

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics) [Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]

Oranges

The prices of non-organic oranges in the U.S. market have shown a downward trend in recent weeks, but they are still much higher than prices of the same weeks in 2019, the situation that is repeated throughout most of the season.

Observing the graph below, in week 51, the average price of conventional oranges was $1.11 per kilo, a 29 percent increase from 2019, as the average prices were $US 0.86 per kilo.

The origins supplying the U.S. market are Arizona, California, Chile, Mexico, South Africa and Texas.

Prices of non-organic oranges in U.S. market (USD per kilo)

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics) [Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]

Limes

Prices of non-organic limes have been stable throughout 2020 in the U.S. market, but these have been lower than prices year-on-year throughout most of the season.

Looking at the graph below, in week 51 the average price of conventional limes was $0.55 per kilo, a 43 percent decrease year-on-year. The average prices in 2019 for this time were $0.97 per kilo.

The only source for the supply of limes in the U.S. market is Mexico.

Prices of non-organic limes in U.S. market (USD per kilo)

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics) [Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here]

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 20 fruits we currently track.