FreshFacts report recaps Q2 sales highlights for fruits, veg

Fresh vegetable sales for the second quarter of the year totaled $9.6 billion, with fresh fruit adding $9.3 billion, according to the newest FreshFacts on Retail report.

The report, which is produced by the United Fresh Produce Association, uses data from Nielsen.

Strawberries topped the chart for fruit, pulling in more than $1.01 billion, up 16.8% from the second quarter of 2019, per the report. Apples came in second with $960 million, as dollar sales up 2.8% while volume growth was 9.5%; the average price per pound was 6.1% lower than in the second period last year.

Bananas rounded out the top three fruits for the period with $886 million in sales, up 6.8%, as 70% of households purchased them during the period.

“Success of these popular staples support the trend of familiarity prevailing throughout the pandemic,” United Fresh wrote in the report.

Oranges ($419 million) had the highest dollar and volume growth for the quarter among the top 10 fruit categories at 54.7% and 47.5%, respectively. Cherries ($398 million) followed close behind with 43.8% and 41.6% increases.

Vegetables

Seven of the top ten vegetables saw dollar growth in excess of 20% in the second quarter, led by packaged salads, which raked in $1.54 billion, per the report.

Tomatoes and potatoes also surpassed the billion-dollar mark for the period, with $1.23 billion and $1.12 billion, respectively.

Potatoes had the highest dollar growth among top 10 items with a 33.6% increase, followed by mushrooms ($382 million) at 31.0% and bell peppers ($591 million) at 30.4%.

Tomatoes and potatoes benefited from average price per pound increases of 13.0% and 9.8%, respectively, while categories including onions (-4.9%), broccoli (-2.9%) and carrots (-3.4%) saw average prices per pound lower than in the second quarter of 2019.

“Potatoes have been a pandemic staple,” United wrote in the report. “It’s interesting to see that tomatoes have not seen volume declines considering the significant average price increase. Historically, mushrooms have tended to peak in Q1, not Q2.”

The report also provides in-depth looks at how key categories for the upcoming season fared in the fourth quarter of 2019. Apples saw a 2.7% decrease to $1.03 billion and a -0.5% decrease to 640 million pounds compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Citrus dipped 4.4% to $971 million in dollar sales and decreased 1.4% to 668 million pounds for the same period.

Cooking vegetables stayed level with the fourth quarter of 2018 with $859 million in sales, and the category saw an increase of 1.6% to 482 million pounds. United noted in the report that cooking vegetables are likely to see more growth this year as more households cook more meals at home due to gathering restrictions amid the pandemic.

The report also zeros in on value-added produce, organic produce, commodities performing well in the e-commerce channel and more.

United plans to hold a discussion webinar focused on the report Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. EST. Registration is available through the United Fresh website.