National Retail Report - Feb. 15

From the USDA's National Retail Report of Feb. 15.

Valentine’s Day
This week’s retail ads continued to target late Valentine’s Day shoppers with promotions of flowers, candies, and special cuts of meat. Seafood was featured prominently once again in deference to Lent. A “think Spring” theme is also beginning to emerge, helped along by the availability of more fruits, especially the late-summer Chilean stone fruit and grapes. Produce ads this week were up more than 5 percent with both fruit and vegetable ads increasing approximately 5 percent compared to the previous week. Again this week the top featured items focused on imported items. The top five items included: grapes, asparagus, peaches, blueberries, and nectarines. There were no notable changes.

Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads
February 15, 2008
Limes 0%
Lemons 1%
Mangoes 4%
Nectarines, yellow flesh 9%
Oranges, navel 3%
Peaches 10%
Honeydew 1%
Grapefruit, red 6%
Watermelon, mini 2%
Strawberries 6%
Plums 8%
Pineapple 5%
Apples, red delicious 6%
Avocadoes, hass 5%
Bananas 0%
Bananas, organic 1%
Grapes, green/red 16%
Clementines 1%
Cantaloupe 6%
Blueberries 9%

Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads - February 15, 2008
Lettuce, iceberg 3%
Broccoli 2%
Lettuce, romaine 1%
Corn 1%
Cucumbers 6%
Celery 2%
Carrots, baby organic 6%
Carrots, baby 6%
Cabbage 3%
Broccoli, organic 1%
Mushrooms, white 5%
Tomatoes 3%
Tomatoes, organic 0%
Tomatoes on the vine 3%
Sweet Potatoes 3%
Squash, zucchini 4%
Onions, sweet 5%
Onions, yellow 4%
Peppers, bell green 3%
Peppers, bell red 7%
Potatoes, russet 9%
Tomatoes, grape 6%
Beans, round green 1%
Tomatoes, grape organic 3%
Asparagus 13%