VEGETABLE SALES GROWTH ALMOST 20% HIGHER THAN FRUIT GROWTH

"Easter is typically a big week for the produce department," said Joe Watson, VP of Membership and Engagement for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). "But with social distancing in place, Easter celebrations and dinners were very different in makeup and size, which likely affected sales. At the same time, the ability for retailers to encourage impulse purchases continues to be a challenge because consumers are spending less time shopping and focused more on list purchases. I expect shopping patterns to remain very different in number, size, day of the week, day part and online ordering trends for a while to come."

Since the onset of the coronavirus sales patterns, fresh vegetable growth has far exceeded that of fruit, and the week ending April 12 was no exception. Vegetable sales growth (+25.6%) was nearly 20 percentage points higher than that of fruit (+7.0%), while the two areas are roughly equal in size. Compared with the same week in 2019, fresh produce generated an additional $196 million in sales, of which $153 million was generated by vegetables.

As seen in prior weeks, there continues to be an important gap between dollar growth and volume growth, pointing to a key role for price in the performance picture. The heavily reduced foodservice demand is providing ample produce supply. Starting with the week ending March 22, volume sales far exceeded dollar sales, which would indicate deflation setting in at retail for some areas. For the week of April 12, the volume versus dollar growth gap was largest to date, at 5.8 percentage points.

The gap is mostly driven by vegetables. For the week ending April 12, volume sales gains for vegetables were more than 12 points higher than dollar growth.

Potatoes have been the absolute growth leader since the onset of coronavirus in the U.S., adding $39 million in new dollars versus the comparable week in 2019, or +74.3%. Others that gained big in dollars were berries (+$26 million), onions and oranges (+$15 million, each) and lettuce (+$12 million).

“This week, asparagus, sweet potatoes and onions are three big ones that jump out at me,” said Watson. “While asparagus had a strong 29.8% boost in dollars, volume sales were up 73.7%. That means there is a lot of negative pressure on the average retail price, likely due to the lack of demand from foodservice. IRI found a 25.3% decline in the price per volume for asparagus the week of April 12 versus the comparable week in 2019.

Fresh fruit sales were relatively unchanged from the prior week and showed an increase of 7.0% over the week ending April 12 versus the comparable week in 2019. Oranges, while the seventh largest in terms of dollar sales, were the second highest in terms of dollar gains, up nearly $13 million in comparable week sales, representing a 58.4% increase.

The third biggest driver of new dollars were avocados that jumped up two spots to fifth place in the top 10 sales list. Avocados was one of the few items that saw an increase in price per volume. “One of the reasons for more of the produce dollar going to frozen and shelf-stable is shelf life,” said Parker. “Many consumers struggle with how to plan out their week with fresh produce items for immediate consumption and items that last a little longer. So instead, they purchase some fresh and some frozen and/or canned items.”