Dominican Lime Wholesale Sourcing: A Buyer's Guide

By Arturo Peguero | International Trade Specialist | Former Dirección de Comercio Exterior | Former International Trade Professor

Last updated: July 2026

Quick Answer: Lime in the wholesale citrus trade means the seedless Persian (Tahiti) lime, not the Spanish lime or quenepa, which is a different fruit. The United States imports nearly all of its fresh limes, overwhelmingly from Mexico. The Dominican Republic is a CAFTA-DR duty-free diversification origin, reaching Port Everglades in about four days by sea.

The United States runs one of the most origin-concentrated fresh produce supply chains there is. It grows almost no limes of its own, and it buys nearly all of them from a single country. That arrangement is cheap and efficient until the year it is not, and buyers who lived through the 2014 price spike know exactly how fast a single-origin lime program can go wrong. “Dominican lime wholesale sourcing” is a search that comes from that lesson: a US, EU, or Caribbean buyer looking to add a second origin behind Mexico. This guide is for that buyer. It covers what the fruit actually is, why the US market is so Mexico-dependent, the Persian-lime spec you source, the trade-terms and logistics case for the Dominican Republic, the EU picture, US import eligibility, and how sourcing from Dominican exporters works.

Building a second lime origin behind Mexico? We supply from our vetted Dominican Republic producer network and handle the supplier vetting, certification checks, and specification. We are a sourcing service, not a directory. Send a sourcing inquiry →

A Note on Names: Citrus Lime Is Not Spanish Lime (Quenepa)

Before anything else, clear up the naming, because two very different fruits sell in English under the word “lime” and Google routinely conflates them.

This guide is about citrus lime, genus Citrus, the tart green fruit used for juice and garnish. Two varieties matter in trade. The Persian lime, also called the Tahiti lime, is botanically Citrus latifolia: seedless, larger, with a thicker rind and a longer shelf life, and it is the dominant commercial lime in world trade, per Wikipedia. The key lime, or Mexican lime, is Citrus aurantifolia: smaller, seedier, more aromatic, and more perishable, per Wikipedia. When a wholesale buyer says “lime” without qualifying it, they almost always mean the Persian lime.

The Spanish lime is a completely different fruit. Also called quenepa, limoncillo, mamoncillo, or guinep, it is Melicoccus bijugatus, a soapberry-family fruit that grows in clusters and has nothing botanically to do with citrus, per Wikipedia. If you are sourcing that fruit, this is the wrong guide: see our Dominican quenepa and Spanish lime sourcing guide instead. Everything below is about citrus lime.

Where the US Gets Its Limes: A Market Built on One Origin

The single most important fact for a US lime buyer is that domestic supply barely exists, so the question is not whether to import but from where.

The United States once had a real lime industry, centered in south Miami-Dade County, Florida. It never grew large, and it did not survive. Citrus canker, spread further by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, combined with disease pressure, storms, and litigation over tree removal to make a domestic lime industry uneconomic, and commercial production effectively ended, per the USDA Economic Research Service. Since then the country has depended on imports for its fresh lime supply.

Those imports came, and still overwhelmingly come, from one place. Even as far back as 1990, Mexico supplied 95 percent of all limes imported into the United States, per the USDA Economic Research Service, and Mexico has remained the dominant supplier by a wide margin ever since. For limes specifically, Mexico and Brazil are the world’s largest producers, per the same USDA ERS report, so the concentration reflects real production geography, not just habit.

The risk in that concentration is not theoretical. In the spring of 2014, heavy rainfall in Veracruz the previous fall cut the Mexican Persian-lime harvest, and the average shipping-point f.o.b. price for Mexican limes peaked at $79.65 per 40-pound carton in April 2014, more than three times higher than a year earlier, per the USDA Economic Research Service. A single weather event in a single origin moved the entire US lime price. That is the case for a second origin, and it is why buyers who want supply-chain resilience add a CAFTA-DR partner like the Dominican Republic behind their Mexican volume rather than in place of it.

The Persian Lime Spec Buyers Actually Source

Because the Persian lime dominates the trade, a wholesale lime program is usually a Persian-lime program, and the specification follows the fruit.

The Persian lime is seedless, with a thick, durable rind that gives it a longer shelf life than the thin-skinned key lime, per Wikipedia. That durability is what lets it travel well by sea and hold condition through a retail or foodservice supply chain, which is exactly why it, and not the more fragile key lime, became the commercial standard. Buyers grade Persian limes by size (count per carton), color (a deep green is preferred for most channels), and juice content, and the fruit typically ships in bulk cartons packed and graded by calibre. Settle the size grade, color spec, and carton format before the first load, the same discipline any fresh-citrus program requires.

Demand behind the spec is broad rather than niche. Lime is a mainstream US and European produce item: bar and restaurant use, retail, and Latin, Asian, and Middle Eastern home cooking all pull steady volume, which is what makes lime a year-round program rather than a seasonal one. Persian lime fruits across the calendar in tropical and subtropical climates, with volume peaking in the warmer months, which suits a tropical origin that can hold a steady program.

The Origin Advantage: 0% US Duty and a Short Lane

Two facts make the Dominican Republic a workable diversification origin for a US lime buyer: it ships duty-free, and it ships close.

Fresh produce from the Dominican Republic enters the United States at 0% duty under CAFTA-DR, the trade agreement the DR joined in 2007, per the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and US Customs and Border Protection. On a commodity where the buyer is matching landed cost against Mexican fruit that also enters duty-free under USMCA, the DR at least starts on level trade terms rather than at a tariff disadvantage, which is the baseline requirement for a second origin to be competitive at all.

Geography does the rest. The Dominican Republic reaches Port Everglades, Florida’s leading perishable gateway, in four days by sea, per Port Everglades. For a durable citrus like the Persian lime, a four-day reefer lane into the main US perishable hub is short enough to land fruit in good condition and feed the Florida and Northeast markets quickly. The same proximity serves Caribbean buyers on short regional lanes. Duty-free entry plus a short lane is the structural reason a DR lime program can compete on landed cost with an established Mexican one.

The EU Market: Persian Lime, Brazil and Mexico Led

For a European buyer, the lime market looks similar in shape but different in origin mix, and it has room for new suppliers.

European lime imports are also dominated by the seedless Persian (Tahiti) lime, which is the preferred variety for the market, per the CBI, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency’s market-information arm. Almost 90 percent of the fresh limes imported into Europe in 2017 came from just two origins, Brazil (80 thousand tonnes) and Mexico (53 thousand tonnes), per the CBI. The market has been growing: EU fresh-lime imports rose 33 percent by volume between 2013 and 2017, from 111,000 to 148,000 tonnes, and the Netherlands is the largest importer and the main entry point, taking in 110 thousand tonnes and re-exporting 93 thousand tonnes in 2017 onward to Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, per the CBI.

The opening for a diversification origin is real. The CBI notes emerging developing-country suppliers, including Colombia, Vietnam, Guatemala, Peru, and Honduras, growing their exports to Europe. A Dominican exporter competes in that same emerging tier, on the same Persian-lime spec, into the same Netherlands entry point, though on a longer ocean lane than the US market that pushes toward careful cold-chain management and, for some buyers, quality or organic differentiation.

US Import Eligibility: Confirm the Pathway First

Fresh citrus is a phytosanitary-sensitive category, so admissibility is the step to confirm before contracting, not after.

US admissibility for a fresh fruit is decided commodity by commodity and origin by origin, and most fresh produce is prohibited unless a specific pathway has been approved for that commodity from that country, per the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The authoritative check is the APHIS Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements database, ACIR, which lists the entry conditions for a given commodity and country. For fresh citrus in particular, expect a phytosanitary certificate and any treatment or production-area condition tied to citrus pest and disease concerns. Treat the entry pathway as a documented condition to verify in ACIR before the first order, and confirm that a given exporter can meet those conditions for the destination. A serious exporter, and a serious sourcing partner, will have that pathway confirmed rather than assumed.

The Certification Baseline: GlobalGAP and What Sits Above It

A wholesale supplier is only as good as the documentation that travels with the fruit, and for a retail-bound citrus program the bar is high.

GlobalGAP is the common baseline. Among Dominican exporters with real export experience, GlobalGAP is the standard good-agricultural-practice certification and the floor for serious supplier conversations, not a premium add-on. Confirm which standard a given exporter holds and that it is current.

Retail and EU buyers layer on more. A supermarket program will often ask for a food-safety add-on such as GlobalGAP GRASP or a GFSI-recognized standard, and EU buyers will hold the exporter to EU maximum residue limits on pesticides. Name the destination’s requirements up front so the exporter can confirm compliance before volume moves.

Verify certificates at the source. Always request the current certificate, the certifying body, and the expiration date, and confirm them with the issuing authority for retail-bound volume. A certificate that cannot be confirmed should be treated as unverified. This is where directory-based supplier searches break down: a listing is not a verification.

How Sourcing From Dominican Exporters Works

The mechanics of working with Dominican exporters are straightforward, but they differ from sourcing within the EU or from a domestic US supplier.

Communication is WhatsApp first. WhatsApp is the primary business channel in the DR. Email works but is slower, and on a live allocation conversation, response speed matters. If an email goes unanswered for 24 hours, switch channels.

Pricing is quoted FOB. Dominican exporters quote FOB from the port of departure, and the buyer arranges freight. CIF terms are negotiable for established buyers. Lock the size grade, color spec, carton format, and cold chain before the first load moves.

Spec and volume come first. Name the Persian-lime size grade, the color and juice spec, the target volume, and the delivery cadence up front. A vague “lime” order is the most common way one of these programs starts on the wrong foot, and it is the fastest way to receive fruit that does not match the channel.

Samples and verification come first. Expect to cover sample cost and freight, and expect a real verification step on certifications and product condition before volume moves. This is normal and signals a serious buyer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Dominican lime the same as Spanish lime or quenepa? No. Dominican lime in the citrus trade means the Persian (Tahiti) lime, Citrus latifolia, the seedless green citrus used for juice and garnish. Spanish lime, also called quenepa, limoncillo, or mamoncillo, is Melicoccus bijugatus, a soapberry-family fruit that grows in clusters and is botanically unrelated to citrus. They are two different crops that happen to share the word “lime” in English, so confirm which one you are sourcing before you contact a supplier.

Where does the United States get its limes? The United States imports nearly all of its fresh limes, because domestic commercial production effectively ended after citrus canker, spread by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, made a Florida lime industry uneconomic, per the USDA Economic Research Service. Mexico is the dominant supplier by a wide margin and supplied 95 percent of US lime imports as far back as 1990, which is why buyers looking for supply-chain resilience add a second origin such as a CAFTA-DR partner behind their Mexican volume.

Does Dominican lime enter the US duty-free? Yes. Fresh produce from the Dominican Republic enters the United States at 0% duty under CAFTA-DR, the trade agreement the DR joined in 2007, per the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and US Customs and Border Protection. Because Mexican limes also enter duty-free under USMCA, the CAFTA-DR treatment means a DR program starts on level trade terms, which is the baseline for a competitive second origin.

Which country produces the most limes? For limes specifically, Mexico and Brazil are the world’s largest producers, per the USDA Economic Research Service. When lemons and limes are counted together, as the FAO reports them, India and China lead on total volume, with Mexico close behind. For a US buyer the more useful fact is that Mexico is by far the largest supplier of limes to the US import market.

Is Dominican lime available year-round? Largely, yes. The Persian lime fruits across the calendar in tropical and subtropical climates, with volume peaking in the warmer months, so a tropical origin like the Dominican Republic can support a steady, repeating program rather than a narrow seasonal window. Confirm the specific volume curve and any peak-season pricing with the exporter when you set the program.

Work With Verified DR Lime Exporters

DominicanSources supplies Persian lime from our vetted Dominican Republic producer network, graded and packed to your size, color, and destination spec. We are a sourcing service, not a directory: every producer in our network has been interviewed, certifications verified, and trade activity confirmed. We confirm the import pathway, handle the specification and the bilingual coordination, and help buyers build a CAFTA-DR duty-free second origin behind their existing lime supply.

Browse verified DR specialty produce exporters

Send us a sourcing inquiry and we will quote your order from our producer network for your lime grade, volume, certification, and destination requirements.

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Further Reading

• Dominican Quenepa Wholesale: Spanish Lime Buyer’s Guide
• Sour Orange Wholesale Supplier: Dominican Naranja Agria
• How to Source Tropical Fruits from the Dominican Republic
• CAFTA-DR Country of Origin Rules for Buyers
• Browse DR Specialty Produce

About the author: Arturo Peguero is the founder of DominicanSources, former official at the Dirección de Comercio Exterior and International Trade Professor at PUCMM with 20+ years in Dominican trade.