December was a very strong month for apples and pears, which were up seven percent and 12 percent in dollar sales, respectively. Double-digit organic growth in both categories, combined with strong showings by core and emerging apple varieties, drove the great results.
Core and emerging apple varieties led dollar growth in December. Core varieties (Honeycrisp, Gala, Granny Smith and Fuji) all had steady growth, ranging from three to 15 percent. Proprietary varieties, including Cosmic Crisp® and Autumn Glory®, saw large dollar gains. These gains were partially offset by dollar declines in Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Cortland and Braeburn.
Autumn Glory® saw record December shipments and we witnessed its growth nationwide. Sales were up 54 percent and volume was up 102 percent. Autumn Glory grew sales and volume by double- or triple-digits in most regions. The Cosmic Crisp® apple continues to grow strongly but is not to the level witnessed in December 2019. Cosmic Crisp nationally was up seven percent in dollars and 18 percent in pounds.
Some regions saw sales growth in the triple digits including West North Central (+167 percent) and East South Central (+152 percent), while regions that carried Cosmic Crisp sales in 2019 slowed momentum: Pacific (-33 percent) and Mountain (-seven percent). Cosmic Crisp availability spread nationally, due to increased volumes in the second year.
Strong consumer programs continue the momentum of 2019, but there is opportunity for retailers to help with merchandising programs. The Cosmic Crisp retailer toolkit can help build displays and digital programs.
December apple growth was strong with category dollars up seven percent, though volume was flat at 0.3 percent. The average price per pound was up 6.6 percent to $1.67/lb. Retail prices were all moving to the industry average. Proprietary varieties decreased to become more competitive with core and mature varieties. Core and mature varieties, however, rose in price with increased demand and the market rising, overall helping category growth. The proprietary price decline was evident with Cosmic Crisp, declining -nine percent to $2.65/lb. and Autumn Glory declining -24 percent to $1.85/lb. All other proprietary varieties also experienced a decrease in price per pound as well.
Right: Cosmic Crisp apple
The pear category was up +12 percent in sales and six percent in volume. Average price per pound was up five percent to
$1.60/lb. Strong sales were a result of strong core pear growth: Bartlett (+17 percent), Anjou (+11 percent), Bosc (+12 percent) and Asian pears (+ eight percent), along with Red Bartletts that were up +107 percent in sales. Asian pears experienced a +21.8 percent increase of price per pound to $4.96/lb. Superfresh Growers will have a steady supply of Asian pears through the spring.
Organic apple share continued at a record percentage of 15.9 percent of category dollars, and 11.4 percent in volume. Organics sales are up 10 percent, though volume is flat at -0.9 percent. Price per pound is up 11 percent to an average of $2.29/lb.
Organic pear growth continued its momentum from November, up 11 percent in dollars and 13 percent in volume. They still had a high category share of 15 percent for dollars and 11 percent for volume, though those were down from record November percentages.
Packaged apples and pears remained strong during COVID-19, though they had moved to pre-COVID volume averages in October and November. For December, we saw slight rises over pre-COVID averages again. Forty one percent of apple volume was packaged compared to the pre-COVID average of ~40 percent. Twenty one percent of pear volume was packaged compared to the pre-COVID average of ~18-20 percent. Nationally spiking numbers of COVID-19 cases seem to be shifting focus back to packaged apples and pears for convenience and perceived food safety.
For more information:
Catherine Gipe-Stewart
Superfresh Growers
Tel: +1 (509) 966-1814
cgipe@superfreshgrowers.com
www.superfreshgrowers.com