Fresh fruit and vegetables both posted sales gains the first quarter of this year over the same period a year earlier, according to the latest edition of FreshFacts for Retail, a quarterly research report from The United Fresh Foundation.
Produce departments as a whole experienced a 2% increase in volume sales, and 7% increase in average dollar sales, spurref by a 4.9% increase in retail prices.
By volume sold, vegetables beat fruit, with a 2.1% increase, while fruit posted an increase of 1.4% over the same quarter in 2012.
In dollar sales, fruit outdid vegetables, increasing nearly 8% over the first quarter last year, with vegetable dollar growth coming in at 5.7%.
The report also includes these stand-out findings:
Nine out of 10 of the top 10 selling fruits posted dollar gains over first quarter 2012, with citrus, melon, specialty fruit and apples chalking up double-digit gains, mostly related to price increases, the research showed, and half of the top 10 vegetable categories gained both in dollar and volume sales.
The report also showed sales gains for organic and value-added fruits and vegetables. Organic fruits increased 24.4% in dollar sales, and organic vegetables showed an increase of 14.9%.
Value-added fruits increased in dollar and volume sales by 10.7% and 2.9%, respectively.
