September 10, 2020

Frozen produce sales remain high, shelf-stable closer to normal levels

The last full week of August saw the smallest produce sales increases since the start of the pandemic across virtually all departments. Prior months had shown weak final week of the month sales and, in this case, the results were further influenced by a much earlier Labor Day in 2019 that fell on Sept. 2.

That means the sales results of the week ending Aug. 30, 2020 ,went up against the 2019 Labor Day sales. Labor Day has always been a massive holiday week for grocery — making it a much harder holiday to beat than ones that had more of a split retail versus foodservice nature in typical years, such as Mother’s Day. Additionally, sales were negatively affected by more extreme weather events, impacting large parts of Louisiana and east Texas.

The net effect for fresh produce was a much smaller gain than those seen since the last week of June. For the week of Aug. 30, fresh fruit and vegetable sales increased 4.7% over 2019. Frozen fruits and vegetables had a much higher percentage increase, at +17.7% but is the smallest of the three temperature zones. Year-to-date through Aug. 30, fresh produce department sales are up 10.9% over the same time period in 2019. Frozen fruit and vegetables increased the most, up 26.8% year-to-date.

  Dollar sales gains total store fruit/vegetables versus year ago
  Week ending 8/30 Year to date through week ending 8/30
Frozen +17.7% +26.8%
Shelf stable +2.1% +23.2%
Fresh produce department +4.7% +10.9%

Source: IRI

“At first sight these results look surprisingly low after settling into a comfortable 10 percentage points above last year’s levels for weeks on end,” said Joe Watson, VP of Membership and Engagement for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). “However, when realizing this week is going up against the Labor Day performance in 2019, the near 5% gain is actually quite remarkable. It indicates that today’s everyday fresh produce demand actually lies higher than last year’s holiday demand, particularly on the vegetable side.”

Fresh produce generated $1.26 billion in sales the week ending Aug. 30 — an additional $56 million in fresh produce sales over the prior year. This is far below the pandemic average for additional dollars, at $179 million per week due to going up against the 2019 Labor Day performance. Vegetables grew 8.3% versus year ago and fruit dropped down to +1.4% during the week of August 30.

Fresh share

Fresh produce commanded an 81.4% share of total fruit and vegetable sales across all three temperature zones during the week ending Aug. 30 — unchanged versus the week prior. “Frozen fruit and vegetables have gained share amid the pandemic despite still being down double digits in the average number of items per store on the fruit side,” said Jonna Parker, Team Lead Fresh with IRI. “Consumers are giving frozen fruits and vegetables credit for shelf life and that is an important lesson for us on the fresh side.”

    Share of total store fruit/vegetable sales
  2019 3/15 3/22 3/29 April(4/5-4/26) May(5/3-5/31) June(6/7-6/28) July(7/5-7/26) 8/23 8/30
Fresh 84% 70% 70% 76% 78% 81% 82% 83% 81% 81%
Shelf stable 10% 19% 19% 14% 13% 11% 10% 10% 11% 11%
Frozen 6% 11% 11% 10% 10% 9% 8% 7% 8% 8%

Absolute dollar gains

“Berries claimed the number one slot in the Top 10 absolute dollar gains for the third week in a row with an additional $18 million versus year ago,” said Watson. “But many others changed position, came into the top 10 or dropped out of the top 10. Tangerines were the fastest riser, jumping into sixth place with gains of $3.4 million.”

  Versus comparable week in 2019
Top 10 produce items in absolute dollar growth Absolute dollar gain
w/e 8/30
Dollar % growth
w/e 8/30
Total dollar sales
w/e 8/30
Berries +$18.1M +15.9% $131M
Lettuce +$15.5M +10.5% $163M
Tomatoes +$6.2M +10.1% $68M
Peppers +$5.5M +13.9% $45M
Cherries +$4.4M +33.4% $18M
Mushrooms +$3.7M +17.8% $24M
Tangerines +$3.4M +17.5% $23M
Limes +$3.2M +31.0% $14M
Cucumbers +$2.8M +14.3% $23M
Potatoes +$2.5M +4.4% $60M

Many more fruits and vegetables had double-digit inflation versus deflation during the week of Aug. 30. Corn led the list of items with inflation, at +22.4% versus year ago, followed by peaches and limes.

Double-digit deflation (change in price per volume vs. 2019 Double-digit inflation versus same week year ago
-29.3%  Pomegranates +22.4%  Corn
-23.9%  Avocados +15.7%  Peaches
+14.2%  Limes
+14.1%  Artichokes
+13.9%  Watercress
+10.9%  Roots
+10.8%  Apricots

Fresh fruit

“In fruit, berries remained dominant in sales as one of the few in double-digit increases over year ago,” said Parker. “The impact of going up against Labor Day 2019 can be seen in items, such as melons, which resulted in down results in both dollars and volume. But I fully expect to see that turn around in next week’s report when we will see the effects of the holiday week this year.”

During the week of August 30, double-digit gains in the top 10 sellers were reserved for berries, tangerines and cherries.

Top 10 in weekly sales Dollar sales increase over comparable week in 2019
for week ending…
Sales week ending
  3/1 March
(3/8-3/29)
April
(4/5-4/26)
May(5/3-5/31) June(6/7-6/28) July(7/5-7/26) 8/23 8/30 8/30
Fresh fruit +0.4% +14.9% +8.7% +10.8% +6.9% +7.1% +7.5% +1.4% $620M
  Berries +6.2% +18.0% 14.4% +16.6% +12.2% +8.1% +17.4% +15.9% $131M
  Melons +1.6% -2.2% -6.8% +7.6% -0.5% +10.0% +14.5% -4.4% $78M
  Grapes +1.8% +7.2% -5.5% -4.7% -9.7% -7.3% -13.0% -16.4% $63M
  Apples -3.9% +16.7% +4.1% +2.2% +1.5% +2.9% -4.0% -5.2% $62M
  Bananas +2.3% +15.2% +9.7% +5.8% +2.7% +2.2% +0.3% -1.1% $58M
  Avocados +3.4% +19.3% +17.0% +13.6% +6.9% -0.2% -0.6% -4.1% $44M
Tangerines -6.3% +18.9% +9.3% -1.2% +9.3% +12.2% +15.0% +17.5% $23M
 Cherries +17.6% +33.6% 15.5% +31.5% +33.4% $18M
Peaches -3.0% -0.1% -35.5% +31.4% -5.7% -0.4% -5.5% -37.3% $18M
Nectarines -1.6% +12.4% +9.1% $15M

Fresh vegetables

The top 10 in sales on the vegetable side included five items that had double-digit increases versus year ago. While much better than fruit, this is down from the typical seven or eight items featuring double-digit growth — reflecting the impact of going up against the 2019 holiday performance. “Much like melons on the fruit side, we see the holiday effect here in items like corn,” said Watson. “Corn is big for the last official grilling holiday of the season and everyday demand this year just could not tip holiday demand in 2019, resulting in dollars being off 13.6%. Mushrooms continued their pandemic strength with another double-digit increase, along with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.”

Top 10 in weekly sales Dollar sales increase over comparable week in 2019
for week ending…
Sales week ending
  3/1 March
(3/8-3/29)
April
(4/5-4/26)
May(5/3-5/31) June(6/7-6/28) July(7/5-7/26) 8/23 8/30 8/30
Fresh veg. +1.7% +25.8% +21.5% +21.7% +16.1% +16.1% +13.8% +8.3% $620M
Lettuce +3.3% +13.1% +11.0% +13.8% +11.6% +8.4% +11.2% +10.5% $163M
Tomatoes +10.0% +28.0% +23.6% +25.0% +23.7% +19.6% +16.3% +10.1% $68M
Potatoes +0.7% +64.4% +50.2% +37.7% +21.7% +19.7% +16.1% +4.4% $60M
Peppers -2.0% +21.9% +26.8% +28.2% +25.3% +22.5% +18.2% +13.9% $45M
Onions -0.7% +42.0% +32.4% +21.7% +13.5% +13.6% +9.6% -0.1% $43M
Mushrooms +3.1% +22.6% +30.3% +33.7% +27.8% +26.2% +21.9% +17.8% $24M
Cucumber +6.7% +18.8% +19.5% +21.3% +21.1% +18.6% +19.0% +14.3% $23M
Carrots -2.5% +28.3% +18.6% +11.5% +7.3% +9.2% +6.4% +4.0% $22M
Broccoli -2.0% +19.2% +18.9% +20.9% +14.3% +19.5% +10.5% +8.7% $20M
Corn +16.2% +25.4% +15.9% +26.4% +1.4% +30.5% +16.1% -13.6% $16M

More than three-quarters, 78.3%, of total lettuce sales was made up by fresh-cut (packaged) salad. Dollar gains for fresh cut salad remained in double digits, at +11.1% versus year ago levels. Volume sales increased 7.3% and units (transactions) grew 3.1%.

  Dollar sales increase over comparable week in 2019
for week ending…
Sales week ending
  3/1 March
(3/8-3/29)
April
(4/5-4/26)
May(5/3-5/31) June(6/7-6/28) July(7/5-7/26) 8/23 8/30 8/30
Fresh cut salad +3.9% +13.3% +9.1% +11.8% +11.6% +10.1% +11.3% +11.1% $129M

Fresh versus frozen and shelf-stable fruits and vegetables

The week of Aug. 30 experienced a dip across produce offerings with the exception of frozen fruit that continued to sit well above +30% versus year ago levels. Shelf-stable fruit sales dipped below 2019 levels, at -1.0%, and canned vegetables fell into single digits, just like fresh fruits and vegetables. 

— Anne-Marie Roerink, President, 210 Analytics





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