A press release on the topic says that sales of organic fresh produce sales topped $1.7 billion for the April-June 2020 quarter, continuing a trend of organic fresh produce sales maintaining higher growth rates than conventional produce. Total organic fresh produce sales for the first half of the year totaled $3.3 billion, an 11.1% increase year-over-year, compared to a 10.9% increase in conventional. In terms of volume, organic saw a 12.9% increase year-over-year, compared to conventional’s 10.3% increase.
Overall, in the April-June period, organic fruit and vegetable sales increased 17%; volume increased 18.2%.
“While we see some moderated growth in organic sales in the second quarter of 2020, consumers continue to follow established pre-COVID-19 organic fresh produce purchasing habits despite the negative economic impacts of the pandemic,” said Matt Seeley, CEO of the Organic Produce Network, in the press release.
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The West continues to be the strongest region in the U.S., with overall organic sales up 25% in Q2 versus a year ago.
With regards to categories, organic packaged salads lead the way, representing 20% of all organic dollars; volume-wise, bananas represent nearly 20% of all retail organic volume.
“Packaged salads continue to be the organic sales driver, with bananas the clear volume leader. From a space to sales perspective there is likely no other organic item in the produce department that can match the consumer purchase rate of bananas,” said Steve Lutz, Senior Vice President, Insights and Innovation at Category Partners, in the press release. “Three categories clearly drive volume growth: bananas, apples and carrots - with those three commodities driving 46 percent of all incremental volume during the second quarter of this year.”
The full report is availablehere.
