In the lull before the next major holiday, retailers gave shoppers a taste of summer to come. Florida came in strong this week with new crop corn, beans, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow squash. Texas sweet onions were popular, beating the Vidalias to market. Mangos, grapes, and avocados were the top 3 most advertised fruits this week, though lemons, berries, and imported cantaloupes were right behind. Popular vegetable items this week included Roma tomatoes, colored bell peppers, and asparagus. A few retailers made early mentions of Mother's Day.
Total ad numbers this week were 272,627, a 9% decrease from last week's total of 299,069. The total for the same week last year was 11% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 138,775 (51% of all ads), onions and potatoes 20,382 (7%), vegetables 108,540 (40%), herbs 1,652, ornamentals 1,264, and hemp 2,014. The number of ads for organic produce was 36,900, 14% of total ads.
The following are the prices of major advertised items (3,000 plus ads) this week, compared to the same week last year. Significant increases in price for fruit this week included only strawberries (1 lb.) at 21%. Significant decreases included avocados at 23%, Honeycrisp apples at 20%, tangerines at 20%, raspberries at 15%, and white seedless grapes at 12%.
Click here to read the full report.
Source: mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov