National Retail Report - March 21

Here is the summary graph from the USDA's National Retail Report of March 21:

Advertised Prices for Fruits & Vegetables at Major Retail Supermarket Outlets - 03/15 to 03/27
Retailers Focus Almost Exclusively on Easter Holiday
Nearly all retailers this week were vying for Easter shoppers with ads on a wide variety of items to celebrate the holiday. The most widely promoted items were hams and produce for dinner, candies, Easter lilies and a wide variety of baskets and gifts. In addition, several ads continued to promote March as National Frozen Food Month and some ads were taking the opportunity during the last days of the Lenten season to promote fish and seafood. Vegetables were featured heavily this week and accounted for over 55 percent of the total ads. This is in contrast to recent weeks in which fruits were more prominently featured. The top 5 featured items were: asparagus, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, and sweet potatoes. The most notable increases on the vegetable ads were for asparagus, green beans, celery, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes. As expected, there was a sharp decline on cabbage ads after the St. Patrick’s Day holiday.Overall, special weekly price ads on the fruits were down more than 10 percent when compared to last week. However, many ads featured “buy-one-get-one-free” promotions for a variety of fruits and were especially noted on strawberries and other berries.

Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads March 21, 2008
Limes 0%
Mangoes 1%
Lemons 1%
Honeydew 0%
Nectarines, yellow flesh 6%
Peaches 6%
Pears, bartlett 2%
Oranges, navel 4%
Grapefruit, red 1%
Grapes, green/red 17%
Cantaloupe 8%
Blueberries 4%
Avocadoes, hass 5%
Bananas 0%
Apples, red delicious 3%
Watermelon, seedless 1%
Watermelon, mini 1%
Strawberries 15%
Plums 4%
Pineapple 21%



Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads - March 21, 2008
Asparagus 19%
Beans, round green 8%
Broccoli 3%
Broccoli, organic 2%
Cabbage 2%
Carrots, baby 7%
Carrots, baby organic 2%
Celery 4%
Cucumbers 2%
Corn 1%
Lettuce, iceberg 1%
Tomatoes, Organic 0%
Tomatoes, grape 6%
Tomatoes on the vine 5%
Squash, zucchini 3%
Tomatoes 1%
Mushrooms, white 7%
Sweet Potatoes 10%
Peppers, bell green 1%
Peppers, bell red 1%
Onions, sweet 4%
Onions, yellow 2%
Potatoes, russet 7%
Lettuce, romaine 1%
Tomatoes, grape organic 2%