The choice to enter the export business of limes was not casual. We gathered all available statistics, evaluated all links of the value chain, visited numerous producers with small and large plantations, bought volumes of fruit from them and shipped it to local packers. We followed the delivery and selling process in Holland and Italy to witness directly the workings of the market… for nearly two years. All this preparatory work paid off. We grasped the general dynamics of this business. Most of all, we found that we liked it, particularly the farming side…

Statistics announced interesting trends found nowhere in other crops that could be produced in our area and under our conditions: a constant increase in shipped volumes for the last 15 years (CAGR of 3%) and projection of demand growth at a minimum of 6% for the next five years. The future was particularly promising.

Most forecasts did in fact happen in the following years. In fact more than forecasted. According to stats from Eurostat Comext, 2013-2014, import of limes in the EU were higher than the estimated 89.000 metric tons, 111.000 in 2013. All in all, the European market grew more than 50% between 2009 and 2014. And it seemed unscathed by the 2009-2012 economic crisis. The forecast (and then the reality) that the market would keep growing induced us even more in investing in this crop. The trends for the use of limes and its sub-products in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, in addition to the slow, but steady change of the final users’ perception that limes if a ‘normal’ fruit and not an exotic one, was unmistakable.

Brazil had a unique position in this trade: 63.000 tons vs. 44.000 from Mexico, and both imported 95% of limes in EU thorough its entry via Rotterdam. Such volumes are then exported all over EU: 50% alone to Germany, but also the UK, Spain, and the Nordic countries are good users of this crop.

Luckily for us, the Brazilian variety is preferred to the Mexican varieties: no seeds, high brix, good flavor, strong smell, right acidity… and most of all perfect skin: hard, thick, but not too much, green (with some yellow coloration, but easily accepted…).

From our point of view, there was no one brand dominating this market. That meant that a new entrant would be easily absorbed and, in our fantasy and hopes, that a particularly good producer of exceptional quality could establish itself as a special supplier and earn extra rents for this. We were right. We believed it so much that in 2009 we closed a deal to supply our first serious receiver in Holland, the Van Rijn Trading Co, VRT, and concern with more than 150 year in this business: had we been able to commit to the quality demanded, they would support us heavily. We did. And they did.

They helped us financially in setting up our brand new packinghouse, by far the best in Bahia (and still is). Through the years we frequently and regularly visit the sales and the quality directors to counsel and prepare us in the plantation, in the packing processes, correcting our processes and managerial practices, designing of new cartons, maximizing the space in the container (from the usual 5240 cartons to 6048 per container). … the lot! And we were avid students!!

VRT were paranoid about quality. They forced us to have a first class product from scratch. Always demanding more, better fruit, perfect packing, and cleanliness… in all aspects of the process, from the planting to the husbandry of the plantation: quality starts in the field!

And the results were coming: excellent fruit, well above the Brazilian norm.