The latest retail report from the Hass Avocado Board shows an increase in demand for bagged avocados during the 2023 summer holidays.
HAB said sales of bagged avocados during the third quarter of 2023 had a 2.8 million unit increase during Independence Day and Labor Day.
The organization releases its Avocado Holiday Retail Recap quarterly to track sales trends for key avocado holidays and events. Here are some highlights from the recent sales report.
Independence Day
Unit sales of avocados increased to 42.1 million units during the Independence Day period, which is an increase of 14% from 2022 to 2023. HAB said while units were up for the Fourth of July, the dollar sales decreased by 13% due to a 24% decrease in the average selling price of $1.17 per unit.
Sales in the South Central part of the U.S. experienced the highest volume growth rate — up 26% year-0ver year. HAB said other notable regions that posted volume gain increases include the Northeast, which netted an 8% year over year, and the Southeast with a 21% increase over 2022.
HAB said its Fourth of July holiday week sales data shows an increase of 5 million units from 2022. Increases in sales in the South Central, Southeast and West regions added 3.3 million units to the category.
The retail sales report shows that extra-large and bagged avocados fueled this incremental growth, which added 5.3 million incremental units to the category in 2023.
Labor Day
While HAB sales data shows a decrease of 5% in total dollar sales from 2022 to 2023 and a 3% overall drop in units, several regions of the U.S. experienced gains during Labor Day.
Experiencing an increase in volume included the mid-South, South Central and Northeast, which contributed to an increase in 330,000 units.
Retail data shows a decrease in selling price of 2% from 2022 to 2023. Prices during the holiday ranged from $1.01 a unit in the South Central region to $1.39 a unit in California.
Despite these figures, HAB said bagged avocados experienced a sales increase of 14% from 2022 to 2023. This contributed to an additional 1.3 million units sold of bagged avocados.