Lime Season

Limes are available in Australia for most of the year, with the best supply running from September through to May. Peak season falls between January and April, when Queensland's tropical growing regions are pushing out high volumes and prices are at their most competitive. June, July and August are the thinnest months. Domestic production drops to near zero and what's on the shelf has usually come a long way.

Limes are primarily an autumn crop in Australia, with peak supply from January to April.

Australia's commercial lime industry runs on roughly 600 hectares, with Queensland accounting for around 62% of national production according to DAFF. The Tahitian lime (Citrus latifolia) makes up approximately 94% of all Australian lime production, per CSIRO, because it's seedless, virtually thornless and bears large, juicy fruit over an extended period. Trees take around three years to first commercial crop and suit the red volcanic soils around Mareeba in far north Queensland, as well as northern NSW, the Riverland in SA, and the Darwin area. Unlike lemons, limes can't shrug off a serious frost. A cold snap that barely affects a lemon orchard can set back a lime planting by a full season.

The limes on supermarket shelves are almost certainly Tahitian, but Australia has several native citrus species of its own. The finger lime (Citrus australasica) is native to the subtropical rainforests of the SE Queensland and northern NSW border ranges. The round lime (Citrus australis), desert lime (Citrus glauca) and Kakadu lime (Citrus gracilis) round out the main species, per Wikipedia's Australian lime entry. CSIRO has been breeding commercial cultivars from these natives since the 1980s, producing Australian Blood (red rind, from acid mandarin crossed with red-flesh finger lime), Australian Sunrise (yellow rind) and Australian Outback (from desert lime collections), all three granted Plant Breeders Rights in 2004.