Celery
Last week watermelon and orange content dominated Produce Market Guide searches. Strawberries, lettuce and celery rounded out the top five searches on the platform that connects produce buyers and sellers.
Organic vegetables are hot commodities in supermarket produce departments, and celery, in particular, seems to be a current trendsetter.
The urban legend of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx goes something to the effect that people or teams on the cover of the magazine subsequently experience bad luck.
Celery isn’t the only high-priced, high-demand produce item on retail supermarket shelves, but the commodity’s enduring run of high f.o.b. prices is truly remarkable.
West Coast celery shipping point prices continue to hold strong at historically high levels, and the market may not back down for several weeks.
Fed by a consumer juicing craze, prices for fresh celery have soared to historic highs close to $70 per carton and could remain strong for weeks — perhaps months.
Celery’s high prices, high demand and low supply show no sign of changing soon.
Thirty-seven percent of consumers polled in The Packer’s Fresh Trends 2023 survey said they purchased fresh celery in the past year.
The Salinas, Calif.-based producer is adding a bite-sized celery, cut into 1.5-inch pieces, to its fresh vegetable offerings this fall.
The company says it plans to tout the health benefits of the vegetable through a marketing campaign that includes giveaways.