National Retail Report - Oct. 10

From the USDA National Retail Report:

A variety of themes were noted in this week’s ads. In addition to a prevalent overall autumn theme, retailers chose to highlight October as Organic Harvest Month, National Seafood Month, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Some retailers had even begun to announce Thanksgiving promotions. Overall this week, fresh produce ads were down more than 5% and could be attributed to a decline of nearly 5% on fruit ads and a decline of more than 5% on vegetable ads. The top 5 featured items were: grapes, pears, OTV tomatoes, strawberries, and asparagus. As was the case last week, many seasonal items not regularly captured in this report were featured quite heavily. Of these, the most notable were a variety of apples, pears, and squash.



Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads - October 10, 2008
Mangoes 5%
Lemons 2%
Limes 1%
Honeydew 1%
Grapefruit, red 1%
Nectarines 1%
Oranges, navel 1%
Watermelon, mini 0%
Strawberries, organic 2%
Strawberries 11%
Pears, bartlett 16%
Peaches 7%
Pineapple 6%
Plums 3%


Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads - October 10, 2008
Broccoli, organic 0%
Broccoli 2%
Beans, round green 2%
Tomatoes, on the vine 11%
Tomatoes, organic 0%
Tomatoes 4%
Cabbage 2%
Carrots, baby
organic 5%
Carrots, baby 4%
Asparagus 10%
Tomatoes, grape organic 1%
Tomatoes, grape 4%
Celery 3%
Corn 1%
Cucumbers 3%
Lettuce, iceberg 3%
Lettuce, romaine 1%
Mushrooms, white %8
Onions, yellow 3%
Sweet Potatoes 5%
Squash, zucchini 4%
Potatoes, russet 4%
Peppers, bell red 8%
Peppers, bell green 4%
Onions, sweet 8%