Organic produce saw significantly higher dollar sales for the first quarter and for March amid the coronavirus crisis.
Total organic dollars were up 22% from March of 2019, according to a new report from the Organic Produce Network and Category Partners. For the quarter, organic produce dollar sales were up 8% from the same time last year, and volume sales were up 10%. Conventional produce saw gains of 6.6% and 7.7%, respectively.
The report, based on Nielsen retail scan data, showed that the West and the Northeast saw the largest growth of organic dollars during the quarter, according to a news release.
Steve Lutz, senior vice president of insights and innovation for Category Partners, indicated that broadening demand for organic beyond staple items is an opportunity for organic.
“What we see in the Nielsen data is that organic produce at retail is concentrated within fewer categories than conventional produce, especially in the winter months when locally produced organic products are less available,” Lutz said in the release. “The top 10 organic categories in produce (drove) 59% of dollars and 71% of volume in Q1. These same categories contribute only 42% of total conventional sales and 52% of volume.”
Packaged salads, apples and bananas accounted for more than 35% of the dollar sales growth for organic produce during the first quarter. Bananas, carrots and apples together made up 44% of organic produce volume sales for the quarter.
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