Stores were abundantly filled with sweet summer fruit and delicious vegetables for Memorial Day and graduation celebrations. Deals on grilling stars like portobello mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, colored bell peppers, corn, and sweet onions complimented specials on steaks, burgers, and hotdogs. New crop watermelons, cantaloupes, peaches, nectarines, cherries, and apricots hailed the arrival of summer.
Total ad numbers this week were 269,087, a 2% increase from last week's total of 262,587. The total for the same week last year was 10% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 127,636 (47% of all ads), onions and potatoes 24,863 (9%), vegetables 110,935 (41%), herbs 751, ornamentals 2,174, and hemp 2,728. The number of ads for organic produce was 28,829, 11% of total ads.
The following are the prices of major advertised items (3,000 plus ads) this week, compared to the same week last year. Significant increases in price for fruit this week included yellow peaches at 22%, organic strawberries (1 lb.) at 22%, cantaloupes at 20%, miniature watermelons at 14%, and conventional strawberries (2 lb.) at 13%.
Click here to read the full report.
Source: mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov