| Agroindustria Cultivar |

| Spanish Version |

If we talked about historically, the tree is the Lime tree and if we spoke of fruit is Lime, which is a bitter one that has the particularity to take benefit of its acidity, in addition to the contribution that during many years has offered medically like digestive, respiratory and circulatory by the great amount of vitamins, minerals and fibers that it has.

The first species of bitter citruses are said that they come from India and the Asian Southeastern, of where also locates the origin of the first wild Lime trees. The connoisseurs of the subject say that this fruit was introduced to the Mediterranean zone during the expeditions of Alexander Magno in century II D.C.

Soon its importance arrived at the countries of Italy and Spain by the invasions of the Muslims during centuries IX and X, so that later at the time of the conquest it was introduced to the American continent, where at the present time occupies the place in where the greater volumes of production occur.

The Lime tree is a perennial fruit tree, very similar to the orange tree, its height oscillates between the 2 and 6 meters, of ligneous trunk, of hard wood, yellowish color and very graft. These trees have flowers of five petals, of pink color before they open and white when they are already open, well-known as orange blossom flowers. The Lime tree has the particularity to have several flowerings to the year, reason why it can simultaneously have presence of flowers and fruits in the same tree.

The main use of this product is the consumption in fresh, as much for the elaboration of juices and homemade refreshments; also it is used as seasoning and spice for a great variety of dishes and in the last years has been increased the industrial use of this fruit for the extraction of natural and concentrated juice, as well as the extraction of essential oil, pulp and pectins.

The main exporter of Lime to the European countries is Spain, being South America, South Africa and the countries of the Mediterranean River basin his main competitors in the industry of the cultivation of this product. A particularity in the production of the Lime is that in the North Hemisphere the most propitious time to cultivate it is during the months of October and April; on the contrary, in the South Hemisphere, the best time to cultivate is in the months of May to September, reason why both times are complementary in the World-wide Market, but they generate a seasonal curve of demand in the market that favors or works against the Exports and the fluctuation of the prices of the Lime.

One of the factors that have contributed greatly to put in practice the idea to diversify the production of the lime, now in powder, is because it is a product of great demand as much in the local market as international, also taking advantage of the qualities of richness in vitamins and minerals that this product has. Another one of the important factors for the production of products of powder lime, is that the culture of Latin America is well-known by its taste and acceptance of very acid products, reason why this particularity represents an advantage to diversify the natural product to the powder product, as a way to innovate and to diversify the consumption of this product. Also we know that our Latin culture has created the necessity to consume many of its foods very spicy and seasoned with very much lime, which could represent a potential market for the product consumption of powder lime.

Finally, the rest of international markets could represent great potential consumers of this new product, in a form different and perhaps with a great acceptance from being a product of greater quality and healthful, that pleases the taste of these consumers.