Potatoes, tomatoes, oranges and cherries have seen significant sales increases amid the pandemic, while mixed fruit, tangerines and party platters have experienced dips.
The United Fresh Produce Association, in its new FreshFacts on Retail report for the second quarter of 2020, documented which categories are in the top five and bottom five based on absolute dollar change from February to June and which categories are in the top five and bottom five based on percentage change of dollar sales in that same span.
The items ranking high in absolute dollar gains for that period are:
- Potatoes — Growth of $444.7 million, a 32.2% increase
- Tomatoes — Growth of $366.9 million, a 24.1% increase
- Pre-packaged salads — Growth of $314.2 million, a 14.9% increase
- Strawberries — Growth of $211.5 million, a 16.0% increase
- Oranges — Growth of $176.2 million, a 36.1% increase
“We continue to see that hearty, versatile cooking and salad staples such as potatoes, tomatoes and garlic are performing well during the pandemic,” United wrote in the report. “Note (that) these categories have a high (dollar) base, so absolute (dollar) change may be high regardless of the pandemic.
“Snacking fruit like oranges, cherries and strawberries are showing high growth as consumers look for healthy bites between meals,” United wrote.
On the flip side, the largest declines in absolute dollars have been for:
- Mixed fruit — Decrease of $50.4 million, a 19.3% drop
- Celery — Decrease of $24.1 million, a 6.4% drop
- Vegetable party platter — Decrease of $20.9 million, a 27.9% drop
- Remaining fruit — Decrease of $13.8 million, a 26.6% drop
- Pears — Decrease of #13.8 million, a 7.3% drop
Oranges, cherries, garlic, eggplant and seasonings rank as the top five categories seeing the largest percentage increases.
The categories seeing the most significant declines by percentage change are tropical fruit mixes, vegetable party platters, remaining fruit, fruit party platters and tangerines, according to the report.
Related article: FreshFacts report recaps Q2 sales highlights for fruits, veg
United delivered more insight on some of those items in the section of the report devoted to value-added categories.
For the second quarter of 2020, value-added produce sales fell 4.7%. United noted that some of the declines could be attributed to deli sales decreases, SKU rationalization, and labor issues in stores that do their own fresh-cut.
“In fruits, snacking holds (the) bulk of value-add share, but steeper declines were seen in the fruit meal prep segment, which also retails at a significantly higher price point,” United wrote in the report. “As economic woes continue to set in, this could be impacting consumer choice. Conversely, the meal prep segment holds majority share in vegetables and is driving growth. Among the top ten value-add produce categories mixed fruit and fruit salad saw the most declines, while broccoli and onions have seen the highest growth.
“Mixed/fruit salad is often associated with group gatherings, morning office meetings, picnics and other occasions that have likely declined during the pandemic,” United wrote. “As we’ve seen, watermelon and pineapple are summer seasonal but tend to be difficult to prepare at home, which have driven consumer interest in value-added.”
The entire FreshFacts on Retail second-quarter report can be downloaded from the United Fresh website.
