USDA National Retail Report

Here is the summary of the USDA's National Retail report from Dec. 21.


Advertised Prices for Fruits & Vegetables at Major Retail Supermarket Outlets 12/15 to 12/27
Retailers focus on Holiday entertaining.
The Christmas Holiday took center stage for all retailers with major promotions in several departments. Hams took center stage in most ads. Holiday entertaining items such as shrimp, king crab legs, deli/bakery platters, and fruit and vegetable trays were also promoted heavily. Many stores were also highlighting their stores as “one stop shopping” as consumers can purchase a variety of items other than groceries. These items included bakery ingredients, floral assortments, general food items, retail gift cards, and a variety of wines. Overall, this week, there were more fruit than vegetable ads. The top five featured items were: pineapples, blueberries, clementines, celery, and cherries. As was the case last week, the leading fruit items were imported products. Pineapples were featured heavily throughout the country. This was especially noticeable in the northeast and southeast. Ads were observed in eighty percent of the stores. Navel oranges, when combining per each and per pound ad activity, were the fifth most featured fruit commodity. Vegetable ads showed a total increase of about fifteen percent this week compared to last week. In addition to celery, the leading vegetable ads were shown on asparagus, round green beans, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes on the vine. Broccoli, bunched and crowns, when combined together actually was the third leading featured vegetable commodity.