National Retail Report - Aug. 8

Summer is almost over already? Retailers are bracing consumers for the stretch run. From the Aug. 8 USDA's National Retail report:


Retailers Focus on Family Savings and Back to School
This week, many retailers encouraged shoppers to enjoy this last stretch of summer and “stay-cation” by highlighting barbeque and picnic items. Fresh, and often, locally grown produce items were featured prominently in ads. Most retailers also offered some type of special savings promotions. These most often included: “buy-one-get-one-free”, “10 for $10”, and gas savings rewards. In addition, back-to-school features were noted quite frequently as well as family food savings features. Several retailers even offered budget-friendly menus accompanied by recipes for a typical family of four. Overall, fresh produce ad activity was relatively unchanged this week with only slight increases in both total fruit and vegetable ads. Fruits continued to outweigh vegetables in ad activity. The top 5 featured items were peaches, grapes, nectarines, cantaloupes, and strawberries. The most notable changes were seen on: avocados, up more than 25% over last week; sweet onions, nearly triple the number of ads compared to the previous week; and organic baby carrots, down drastically at less than 20% of the total number of ads compared to the previous week.




Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads -August 8, 2008
Bananas 1%
Avocadoes, hass 6%
Apples, red delicious 1%
Bananas, organic 0%
Watermelon, seedless 4%
Watermelon, mini 2%
Blueberries 0%
Cantaloupe 9%
Honeydew 3%
Grapefruit, red 0%
Grapes, green/red 11%
Clementines 0%
Cherries 7%
Strawberries, organic 2%
Strawberries 9%
Plums 8%
Pineapple 3%
Limes 2%
Lemons 0%
Oranges navel 1%
Peaches 13%
Pears, bartlett 4%
Mangoes 3%
Nectarines 9%


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

Crocodile rock

There iisn't anything produce-related when it comes to crocodiles, but our visit to a Honduras crocodile breeding facility was fascinating nonetheless. The facility saved several hundred crocodiles from the wild more than 20 years ago and now has more than 11,000 crocodiles. The facility releases reptiles into the wild of Honduras but has found that the animals they release are often killed by natives (often fishermen) who are understandably afraid of the creatures. Some hides are exported (not to the U.S.- mostly to Japan) under the sanction of a United Nations licensing body for trade in endangered species. Meat is consumed locally.