Lemon tree in Michoacan, Mexico.
(Photo: PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) --
The lemon is an essential fruit for food in Mexico.
It is added to all kinds of foods: in tacos, soups, grilled meats, desserts, beans, in water and even in rice.
Its importance is so great that it is part of the basic table of fruits and vegetables of the basic basket of the country.
Because consuming lemon is something so daily, the increase in its price for months is striking.
And it's not a small thing.
According to the National Market Information and Integration System (SNIIM), of the Mexican Ministry of Economy, only for 2021 the average cost at the national level for a kilo of lemon rose 70%, after going from 16.54 pesos (about 80 cents, based on the Banxico exchange rate) in January to 28.05 pesos (US$1.36) in December. This increase of almost 70% is above the inflation that occurred in Mexico in that period, which was 6.44%, according to the inflation calculator of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
In comparison, the year-on-year increase was not as pronounced: from 2020 to 2021, SNIIM data show, the average cost of lemons nationwide rose 7.9%, after going from 19.41 pesos (2020 average, equivalent at around 97 cents) to 20.94 pesos (2021 average, just over US$1).
In this case, the increase was lower than the inflation registered from January 2020 to December 2021, which was 10.20%.
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With this, it is possible to see that the strongest impact on the price of lemons has been in the months that comprised 2021. In addition to last year's weather conditions, Mexican lemon producers told the Televisa network that the increase in the cost of lemon was also due to the increase in the price of inputs to grow the fruit and the insecurity that exists in some regions of the country due to territorial disputes between drug cartels (in other words, it could not be grown due to insecurity).
CNN requested comments from the SNIIM on the causes of the current and historical increase in the price of lemons, but so far they have not received a response.
The most common lemon
The prices mentioned in the previous paragraphs are for the 'lemon with seed #5 first', a category given by the SNIIM in its data.
In addition to this, prices of five other categories are also displayed: lemon with seed #2, #3, #4, without classification and lemon without seed.
Omar Hernández, a fruit and vegetable merchant at the Central de Abasto in Mexico City, told CNN that lemon #5 is the best quality and the most commonly used in the country.
Number five equals size, so that category is the largest with the most juice, while #2 is the smallest with the least juice.
On the other hand, Hernández indicated, the 'unclassified' lemon refers to all the categories mixed together, so you could get lemons of both good and low quality.
And, he added, the seedless lemon is normally used in cocktails and is usually cheaper.
Despite the fact that it has a lower price, an increase in its price of 41.4% can be observed from January to December 2021, going, on average, from 10.31 pesos (50 cents of the dollar) at the national level to 14 .58 pesos (71 cents) per kilo.
This increase, as in the case of lemon #5, is also above the accumulated inflation in that period.
Do you remember when a kilo was 3 pesos (about 37 cents)?
No more
The prices are compiled by the SNIIM in multiple supply markets in Mexico since 1998, and cover agricultural products (where the lemon is found), livestock and fishery.
Thanks to the fact that the data is available since 1998, it is possible to notice that the price of the lemon with seed #5 in that year was 3.33 pesos per kilo (about 37 cents of a dollar at that time), on average, at the national level. .
Of course, in some places in the Mexican Republic you could find it cheaper or more expensive, but in general it was possible to buy a kilo of lemon with three coins of one peso.
However, this price now looks extremely far from what is experienced today.
If we compare that average cost of 1998 with that of 2021 (20.84 pesos), then the price per kilo of lemon registered an increase of 526% in that period, which more than doubles the inflation in that period, which it was 244.98% according to the Inegi.
Because the SNIIM data is divided by months, we can also see the increase from January 1998 to January 24, 2022. It went from 4.85 pesos per kilo in January 1998 (57 cents in that month) to 45.32 pesos on Monday (current US$2.20), on average, nationwide.
This means that the increase was 834% in that period.
To make the comparison with inflation from January 1998 to January 2022, you have to wait for the data for the entire month of January, which will be published by the Inegi in the third week of February.
However, the trend indicates that this increase in the price of lemon will also exceed the accumulated inflation in that period.
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