Ad flyers this week held an air of excitement as a few big retail holidays are nearing. Super Bowl Sunday is a little over a week away, and already stores are filled with necessities such as avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, limes, lemons, and all sorts of fruit and vegetable snack trays. The Lunar (Chinese) New Year will be celebrated on February 11, and many retailers made sure to offer specials on favorites like bok choy, Chinese cabbage, oranges, Gala and Fuji apples, apple pears, tangerines, grapes, and pomelos. Valentine's Day is still 2 weeks away, but Cupid has already been making the rounds. Typical Valentine's Day staples like strawberries, cherries, and raspberries were popular this week.
Total ad numbers this week were 276,686, a 1% increase from last week's total of 273,786. The total for the same week last year was 4% lower than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 155,661 (56% of all ads), onions and potatoes 24,597 (9%), vegetables 92,490 (33%), herbs 4,308, ornamentals 964, and hemp 2,974. The number of ads for organic produce was 34,398, 12% 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 seedless grapes (red at 44% and white at 22%), apple juice (64 oz.) at 30%, red cherries (16%), avocados at 14%, and cantaloupes (ea.) at 11%. Significant decreases for fruit included Honeycrisp apples (per lb.) at 18%, Gala apples (3 lb. bag) at 18%, and Navel oranges (per lb.) at 16%. Significant increases in price for potatoes and onions this week included only a 30% increase for yellow onions (3 lb. bag).
Significant decreases included only an 11% decrease for Russet potatoes (5 lb. bag). There were no significant increases in price for vegetables this week. Significant decreases included only broccoli crowns at 13%.
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Source: mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov