National Retail Report - March 14

Cabbage has the limelight this week. Enjoy it while it lasts. From the summary graph of the USDA's March 14 National Retail Report:

Retailers Gear Up for St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day was the dominant theme in ads this week, as most stores featured corned beef, cabbage, and red potatoes on the front page of their ads. In addition, retailers continue to promote Easter with various specialty items, such as candy, and potted plants and flowers. Seafood continues to be featured for the final days of the Lenten season. Overall, fruits continue to be more heavily featured than vegetables, with the exception of cabbage. The large number of grape, cantaloupe and stone fruit ads can be attributed to heavy volumes of these items being imported from South America and the Caribbean Basin. The amount of cabbage ads featured this week was significantly higher than all the other vegetables, with baby carrots coming in a distant second place followed by asparagus. In addition to cabbage reported, there were an abundance of ads of organically grown cabbage. Springtime seasonal items, other than produce, such as daffodils, tulips, and other flowers continue to be featured by retailers.


Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads March 14, 2008
Strawberries, organic 1%
Watermelon, mini 1%
Limes 1%
Lemons 1%
Mangoes 4%
Oranges, navel 3%
Nectarines, yellow flesh 8%
Pears, bartlett 3%
Peaches 9%
Pineapple 6%
Clementines 0%
Cantaloupe 9%
Bananas 0%
Bananas, organic 1%
Blueberries 3%
Avocadoes, hass 8%
Apples, red delicious 5%
Strawberries 10%
Plums 7%
Honeydew 1%
Grapefruit, red 3%
Grapes, green/red 18%


Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads March 14, 2008
Tomatoes, grape organic 1%
Lettuce, romaine 2%
Potatoes, russet 3%
Onions, yellow 5%
Onions, sweet 4%
Peppers, bell red 2%
Peppers, bell green 2%
Sweet Potatoes 4%
Mushrooms, white 4%
Tomatoes 2%
Squash, zucchini 3%
Tomatoes on the vine 6%
Tomatoes, grape 5%
Tomatoes, Organic 0%
Lettuce, iceberg 2%
Corn 0%
Cucumbers 2%
Celery 3%
Carrots, baby organic 2%
Carrots, baby 9%
Cabbage 22%
Broccoli, organic 2%
Broccoli 5%