Fresh Produce Remains High Priority For Consumers
September 7, 2010 The latest edition of the United Fresh Foundation’s quarterly retail research report shows promising news for the produce industry. Research contained in FreshFacts on Retail shows that produce department performance in the second quarter of 2010 saw price changes varying, but dollar and volume sales growing in many categories.
According to the report, “Fresh produce remains a high priority for many consumers, since many purchased more produce regardless of price. Onions, for example, increased a dramatic 41.9% in average retail price but did not hinder volume, as it grew 0.6%. A similar trend occurred in citrus, where price increased 16%, but volume still grew 2.7%. Even more promising, value-added fruit and vegetables increased average prices by 1.6% and 4.2% respectively, and both maintained volume growth.”
The FreshFacts on Retail report, produced in partnership with the Perishables Group and sponsored by Del Monte Fresh Produce, measures retail price and sales trends for the top 10 fruit and vegetable commodities, as well as value-added, organic, and other produce categories.
Highlights of this quarter’s report include:
- A 6.6% increase in average vegetable dollars and a 4.0% increase for fruit.
- Five of the top 10 fruit categories and seven of the top 10 vegetables experienced dollar growth.
- An increase in dollars and volume for every value-added vegetable category and an increase in overall value-added fruit dollar and volume sales by 10,% and 9.1% respectively.
- Increases of 7.9% in sales and 10.9% in volume for organic fruits overall.
