National Retail Report - March 7

Lots of imported fruit is featured again this week by U.S. retailers, but high prices for bananas have slimmed promotions in that category significantly. Here is the summary graph from the USDA's National Retail Report from March 7.


Retailers Gear Up for Spring - For period March 1 to March 13
Retailers began to focus their ads more on St. Patrick’s Day and Easter throughout the store as these celebrations drew closer. In addition, many ads highlighted March as National Frozen Food Month and featured a wide variety of frozen items. Lenten specials continued to be offered by many retailers as well. Overall, fruits continued to be more heavily featured than vegetables this week. In fact, four of the top 5 items (grapes, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, and asparagus) were fruits. In addition to price features, many retailers featured “buyone-get-one-free” ads for berries, including strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Blueberries were often featured in packages larger than the 4.4 ounce container reported here. Springtime seasonal items, other than produce, such as daffodils, tulips, and shamrock plants, were widely featured.



Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads March 7, 2008
Strawberries, organic 0%
Watermelon, mini 2%
Limes 1%
Lemons 2%
Mangoes 7%
Oranges, navel 4%
Nectarines, yellow flesh 10%
Pears, bartlett 4%
Peaches 10%
Pineapple 4%
Clementines 0%
Cantaloupe 6%
Bananas 1%
Bananas, organic 1%
Blueberries 6%
Avocadoes, hass 5%
Apples, red delicious 5%
Strawberries 11%
Plums 6%
Honeydew 1%
Grapefruit, red 3%
Grapes, green/red 12%

Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads
March 7, 2008

Tomatoes, grape organic 4%
Lettuce, romaine 2%
Potatoes, russet 4%
Onions, yellow 5%
Onions, sweet 4%
Peppers, bell red 2%
Peppers, bell green 4%
Sweet Potatoes 0%
Mushrooms, white 6%
Tomatoes 2%
Squash, zucchini 5%
Tomatoes on the vine 7%
Tomatoes, grape 7%
Tomatoes, Organic 0%
Lettuce, iceberg 2%
Corn 4%
Cucumbers 3%
Celery 2%
Carrots, baby organic 6%
Carrots, baby 5%
Cabbage 5%
Broccoli, organic 0%
Broccoli 3%
Beans, round green 2%
Asparagus 14%