United Fresh report finds fresh produce sales up

WASHINGTON — United Fresh Produce Association released the 2013 Year in Review edition of the FreshFacts on Retail report, which examines overall retail trends in produce for the past year.

The report shows during 2013, the produce department averaged more than $47,000 per week per store, which was up 4.8 percent over the previous year.

The report, produced in partnership with the Nielsen 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.

Update

Highlights of this year in review report include:

• Over the past year, all of the top 10 fruits posted volume increases.

• Fruits’ average weekly dollar sales increased 4.5 percent versus 2012.

• All of the top 10 vegetables posted increases in weekly dollar sales.

Among value-added fruit categories, value-added fruit and fresh-cut fruit both posted increases in weekly dollar sales.

• Snacking value-added vegetables posted an increase of 15 percent in weekly dollar sales.

• Avocados posted the highest growth in the fruit category, with dollar sales increasing 11.7 percent and volume increasing 10.3 percent.

• Packaged salad and tomatoes, the two top-selling vegetable categories in 2013, increased dollar sales 6.7 percent and 3.4 percent.

Organic

This quarters’ FreshFacts report also features a spotlight on organic produce. Recent trends show that even with increases in retail prices, volume sales continue to grow in all organic fruit and vegetable categories. The growing demand for organic produce resulted in dollar and volume increase, roughly 20 percent for both organic fruits and vegetables overall.