National Retail Report - April 18

I had a good conversation with the USDA's Market News Service Terry Long while I was in DC. He said some interesting things about the market news portal, the retail report and more (I never knew Boston was the most popular wholesale market report). Anyway, he said at some point they will be able to provide year ago statistics for the retail report. Then we can really see how flexible and creative retail produce promotions are - or, as some suppliers like to say, whether retailers simply copy the same promotions they did the same time a year ago.
Here is the summary from the April 18 USDA retail report:

Seasonal and Organic Items Highlighted
There was a lack of a common overall theme this week among retailers. Several were promoting the beginning of Passover and featured packaged mixes, horseradish, dates, and walnuts. There were also several ads promoting natural and organic selections in honor of upcoming Earth Day celebrations. Still others, were celebrating Spring and the return of warmer weather and chose to promote items for outdoor grilling and picnics. Compared to last week, overall fresh produce ads this week were down close to 2 percent with decline of nearly 11 percent on fruit ads and an increase of over 7 percent on vegetable ads. Despite the declining ad activity of fruits, the top 5 items were predominantly fruits and included: grapes, strawberries, tomatoes on the vine, corn, and mangoes. Significant increases in activity were noted on pineapples, watermelons, corn, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes on the vine.


Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads
April 18, 2008
Watermelon, seedless 4%
Watermelon, mini 3%
Strawberries, organic 6%
Strawberries 15%
Pineapple 8%
Pears, bartlett 6%
Oranges, navel 3%
Mangoes 9%
Limes 1%
Lemons 1%
Honeydew 3%
Apples, red delicious 5%
Bananas 0%
Bananas, organic 0%
Avocadoes, hass 9%
Blueberries 2%
Cantaloupe 7%
Grapefruit, red 3%
Grapes, green/red 15%


Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads April 18, 2008
Tomatoes, grape 5%
Tomatoes on the vine 10%
Tomatoes, organic 0%
Tomatoes, grape organic 2%
Tomatoes 2%
Asparagus 5%
Broccoli 2%
Beans, round green 5%
Sweet Potatoes 1%
Squash, zucchini 6%
Potatoes, russet 3%
Peppers, bell red 4%
Peppers, bell green 7%
Onions, sweet 7%
Onions, yellow 3%
Broccoli, organic 1%
Cabbage 1%
Carrots, baby 7%
Carrots, baby organic 4%
Lettuce, romaine 1%
Mushrooms, white 8%
Lettuce, iceberg 2%
Cucumbers 4%
Corn 8%
Celery 2%