The beat goes on for organic produce.
Total organic retail fresh produce sales in the third quarter this year increased by 3% compared with year-ago levels and totaled close to $2.3 billion, according to the 2021 Organic Produce Performance Report for July, August and September from the Organic Produce Network and Category Partners.
Despite the expansion of foodservice business in the third quarter and strong retail sales during the pandemic-driven trends of a year ago, the report said organic dollar sales at retail in-creased by 3.4% and totaled $2.29 billion for the quarter. Organic volume grew by 1.6% in the third quarter.
In contrast, third quarter retail sales for conventionally grown fresh produce grew by 1.3% while volume declined 2.3%.
“The good news is Q3 2021 continued to generate year-over-year growth in organic produce sales despite the Q3 2020 comp period driven by pandemic buying behavior,” Steve Lutz, sen-ior vice president of insights and innovation at Category Partners, said in a new release.
“It is encouraging to note that even though consumer purchases of conventional produce were lower than Q3 of last year, organic produce continues to generate growth—an indication that the longer-term trend of consumers moving toward organic produce continues to grow as or-ganic’s share of the market rises.”
The organic berry category (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) was the number one organic segment in dollar sales for the third quarter, growing 11% in sales com-pared with year-ago levels and generating $407 million, according to the report.
The berry category also enjoyed volume growth for the quarter, gaining 7.3% compared to a year ago.
Beating all categories in sales growth, organic apple sales were up 12.7% over year-ago levels in the third quarter, the report said.
Berries, apples, and packaged salads accounted for 85% of all organic fresh produce dollar growth in the third quarter compared with year-ago levels.
Among produce categories delivering volume gains, the report cited lettuce (up 6.3%), citrus (up 5.7%), and bananas (up 3.8%).
Mixed trends
The top 10 organic produce categories showed mixed results in both sales and volume for the second quarter of 2021, the report said. Organic berries, apples, packaged salads, lettuce, ba-nanas, lettuce, and carrots registered sales dollar gains, while herbs, tomatoes, citrus, and po-tatoes showed modest declines.
Berries were also the star performer in volume growth, joining bananas, apples, onions, citrus, and lettuce in gains for the quarter, the report said.
Organic performance was weakest in the Northeastern U.S. during the third quarter, with dol-lars up 3.8% but volume declining by 1.5%.
The report said all other regions showed modest dollar and volume increases from the same period last year.
Overall organic performance was strongest in the Southern U.S., where dollar sales gained 4.7% and volume was up 3.4%.
