US: Fruit, vegetable sales strong through Summer
According to data from FreshLook Marketing, the average price per pound of fruit increased for the 52-week period ending on August 11 by almost five percent when compared to the previous 52-week period. That climb in price was accompanied by an 8.6% increase in berry sales for the same period, with berry sales accounting for the largest share of total fruit sales. After berry sales, which accounted for 18.5% of all fruit sale dollars for the period mentioned, apples, at 15.3%, made up the second-largest chunk of total fruit sales. In terms of pounds, bananas were the leading category, and their growth from the previous 52-week period increased by 5.4% in terms of pound sales.
Average vegetable prices also rose, according to a FreshLook Marketing report. For the year-long period ending on August 11, dollar sales of vegetables in the United States rose 5.7% from the previous year, and pounds of vegetables sold increased by 3.5%. The leader in vegetable dollar sales came from the lettuce category, which accounted for 15.5% of all vegetable sales and experienced an increase of 8.1% in dollar sales from the previous year. The average price per pound of vegetables increased over the previous year by two percent.