In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Cristian Crespo F. 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.

Over recent years, the demand for citrus in the U.S. market has been on the rise significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. This notable increase is believed to be due to the increase in the consumption of foods rich in vitamin C, as it has various benefits for the immune system and for overall health.

This trend in consumption may have caused lemons prices in the North American market to remain steady, even surpassing those of previous years.

If we look at the graph below, we can see that prices have remained high throughout 2021, even outpacing prices of the last three years. An example is in week 32 of 2021, the average price of lemons was around US$1.73 per kilogram, representing a five percent increase year on year.

Historical average prices of conventional lemons in the U.S. market (USD/KG)

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

Regarding the origins of lemons, different price ranges are created because of them. In week 32 of this year, the average prices for lemons were the following: California $2.05 per kilogram, Chile $1.21 per kilogram and Argentina at $1.15 per kilogram as can be seen in the graph below.

Average prices of non-organic lemons in the U.S. market (USD/KG)

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

Looking at the types of lemon in the North American market, it is interesting to show that organic lemons have had a price increase recently, making a big difference from conventional lemons.

In week 32, the prices of organic lemons were on average $4.37 per kilogram, 153 percent higher than non-organic lemons which can be seen clearly in the following graph.

Average prices of lemons in the U.S. market by type (USD/KG)

(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.