National Retail Report - May 30

Local produce begins to make waves, says the May 30 National Retail Report from USDA. I'll update the promotion trends charts at the bottom of the blog a little later. From the summary:


Ads Centered on Local Summer Produce
With Memorial Day weekend marking the “official” beginning of summer, retailers have settled into promoting fresh summer produce that is locally grown when available. There were ads for such items as, Arizona red potatoes, Texas cabbage, Michigan asparagus, and southern grown peaches. Other advertised specials included “10 for $10” promotions for a wide variety of produce items including, mangoes, navel oranges, sweet onions, zucchini, peppers, and beans. Overall, there was little change in fresh produce ad activity compared to last week. However, fruits were up 13% and vegetables down 10%. The top five featured items were cherries, peaches, sweet onions, grapes and cantaloupes. The most notable increases were seen on grapes, broccoli, romaine lettuce, and zucchini. There was a significant decrease in ads for corn, red peppers, and seedless watermelon. Berries continue to be advertised heavily this week. New crop grapes from Mexico and Southern California were prominently featured in ads. Items appearing in ads that are not reported here include, apricots, broccoli crowns, greenhouse grown cucumbers, and yellow squash.