National Retail Report - July 25

The USDA's July 25 National Retail Report can be found here. The summary of the report:



Grapes and Stone Fruits Dominate Produce Ads
Retailers this week were running a wide variety of promotions to draw customers into stores. These included “buy-oneget- one-free”, “12 for $12”, and “10 for $10”, and “Dollar Days” type sales. In addition, many retailers were offering extra savings when purchasing a number of specific products. Still, others were luring customers by offering gas savings programs.
Overall, fresh produce ad activity was down nearly 15% this week with declines of almost 19% on fruit ads and more than 8% on vegetable ads. Fruits, especially grapes and stone fruits, continued to be the leading produce items featured. The top 5 items were: grapes, peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums. These 5 items accounted for nearly 60% of all fruit
ads and more than 34% of total produce ads. Grapes were featured prominently in ads this week with many retailers highlighting them in front page space. The effort by most retailers to highlight locally grown produce continued this week. Vegetables were often the highlight of
these locally grown features. Most often noted were: peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, and green onions.



Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads - July 25, 2008
Bananas 1%
Avocadoes, hass 2%
Apples, red delicious 0%
Bananas, organic 0%
Watermelon,seedless 3%
Watermelon, mini 1%
Blueberries 0%
Cantaloupe 7%
Honeydew 1%
Grapefruit, red 0%
Grapes,green/red 13%
Clementines 0%
Cherries 11%
Strawberries, organic 4%
Strawberries 8%
Plums 10%
Pineapple 2%
Limes 1%
Lemons 0%
Oranges
navel 0%
Peaches 13%
Pears, bartlett 2%



Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads - July 25, 2008
Broccoli, organic 0%
Broccoli 2%
Beans, round green 3%
Tomatoes on the vine 7%
Tomatoes on the vine 8%
Tomatoes 5%
Cabbage 3%
Carrots, baby organic 3%
Carrots, baby 8%
Asparagus 3%
Tomatoes, grape 2%
Celery 2%
Corn 6%
Cucumbers 5%
Lettuce, iceberg 3%
Lettuce, romaine 4%
Mushrooms, white 4%
Onions, yellow 3%
Sweet Potatoes 0%
Squash, zucchini 9%
Potatoes, russet 1%
Peppers, bell red 5%
Peppers, bell green 6%
Onions, sweet 7%