Lime and its products are marked by use versatility and abundance of resources. In market terms, lime is a low-value commodity which is not widely traded internationally. Most countries have limestone resources and manufacture lime for domestic consumption. Lime is too bulky to involve it in large-scale shipments over long distances. Thus, it is more appropriate to talk about regional lime markets, which demonstrate high level of specificity and contingency subject to affiliation to a certain region. For instance, this regional specificity becomes especially evident when one analyzes lime uses in different regional markets. Regional character of the lime market drives its large fragmentation, leads to poor statistics and increases marginalization of some lime-producing regions, especially, when their lime facilities become ‘frozen in time’ with dilapidated machinery and outdated technologies. Regional lime markets are susceptible to economic situation and prone to price fluctuations. This in turn may affect growth continuity of lime market production in general.
Lime: production dynamics in 2009-2014
In the times of economic and regulatory uncertainty, lime producers have to implement flexible and clever strategies, combining decreases in operational expenses with reasonable expansions and investments in new technologies and equipment. Great attention should be given to the elements of marketing mix and relationship marketing where handpicking and retaining clients in the most promising consumption sectors are paramount. In lime business, these clients are usually not large enough to cater for significant share of consumption, thus leading to the necessity to deal with multiple and hugely diversified clients with respect to their location and specialization.
More information on the lime market can be found in the in-demand research study “Lime: 2017 World Market Review and Forecast”.