This article contains a summary of changes in fresh produce sales in volume as well as dollar amount during the past year.
- Tangerines and avocados show highest growth rates in both value and volume
- US vegetable prices increased in the past year
- Bagged salad category outranks vegetable category in value and volume growth
Fruit – berries are largest category in dollars
As of early September, US fruit sales were up over two percent, both in value and volume sold compared to one year ago. US fruit sales amount to $29.4 billion. Tangerines and avocados make up just 10.8 percent of this total, but are the fastest growing categories, showing 12 and 18.6 percent growth respectively. Melons and berries show 6.1 and 5.2 percent growth respectively while the other categories remained flat or showed negative growth rates. Out of total fruit sales, berries make up the largest category, accounting for 19.3 percent of total US fruit sales.
Tangerines and avocados show highest volume growth
With a share of 27.1 percent, bananas continue to be the largest fruit category in terms of pounds. However, volume of banana sales decreased 0.5 percent in the past year. Sales volume of tangerines and avocados showed the highest growth rate with both categories up 20.1 percent. In total volume, these categories are relatively small, offering lots of room for growth.
Vegetables increased in price
In the past year, vegetable sales in dollars showed 3.6 percent growth while sales in pounds remained relatively stable at 0.3 percent growth. This indicates an increased price per pound for vegetables. Within the vegetable category, bagged salads continue to show the highest gain in dollar sales, up 20.4 percent. Peppers followed at a distance with a 4.6 percent increase. Out of all vegetable varieties, lettuce is the largest category with sales of $4.3 billion.
Potato volumes down
With a share of 22.9 percent, potatoes continue to rank as the number one vegetable in terms of volume. Onions are the second largest vegetable category, followed by lettuce and tomatoes. As the graph below shows, bagged salads showed the highest growth in the past year as volumes went up 13.9 percent. Cucumber volumes increased by four percent, but all other categories remained flat or went down.
Data is sourced from FreshLook Marketing/ Information Resources Source and Multi-Outlet Data and provided by Phil Gruszka.
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Phil Gruszka
Gruszka Consulting
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