Lime in the USA and EU

By virtue of its increasing popularity, the lime has seen an exponential increase in trade in recent years. The US and European Union markets, the world’s leading importers, show up this phenomenon.

Hence within a decade, US lime imports increased by 72 %, going from 356 820 t in 2008 to 614 238 t in 2018. Unsurprisingly, Mexico remains the country’s number one supplier, followed by Colombia, an emerging producer whose exports to the USA exceeded those of Guatemala in 2016. EU-28 imports have gone up by 116 % in the space of ten years (72 517 t in 2008, as opposed to 156 647 t in 2018). Among the main origins supplying Europe, Brazil is in the lead, closely followed by Mexico.

Of course, increasing imports brought about an increase in consumption. Consequently, annual lime consumption per capita in the European Union doubled between 2008 and 2018, going from 0.14 kg to 0.30 kg. The trend is all the more remarkable for its consistency (annual increase approx. 9 %). However, the EC market remains well behind the USA, which is the world’s number one consumer country, with an annual average figure of 1.87 kg per capita, going up by 5 % on average per year.

lime - USA and EU - imports