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Fruit sales booming on the US market during the COVID period

Published on 10/07/2020 - Published by DAWSON Carolina
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Product(s) : Avocado , Banana , Lemon , Fruits , Orange , Grapefruit , Apple
Rubrique / Thématique : Direct from the markets
Country : United States
Keywords : Trade , Sales

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The shockwave that shook the various European fruit markets following the adoption of drastic lockdown measures practically across the board from March onwards ( https://www.fruitrop.com/en/Articles-by-subject/Direct-from-the-markets/2020/The-impact-of-covid-19-measures-on-fruit-and-vegetables-distribution-in-France) also hit the fruit markets across the pond! While the COVID epidemic has followed a very different pattern on these two world markets since March, we cannot help but observe that fruit sales have seen practically the same development.

The analysis of the evolution in sales value of several fresh product categories, derived from IRI statistics supplied by the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) ( https://hassavocadoboard.com/happenings/hass-avocado-board-brings-the-industry-new-data-sets-to-highlight-retail-volatility/) highlights a spectacular leap in sales of fresh fruits since March (+ 10 % on average between March and June), in particular for certain fruit families.

The avocado, cut off from one of its main outlets, the out-of-home sector, managed to claw back some of its sales on the supermarket sector, where they increased by nearly 14 % over the period, with a particularly big leap in March (+ 19.4 %) and in May (+ 15.5 %). These are well above-average growth levels for the fruits section.

For the banana, we can also be pleased at the improvement in monthly sales observed over the period as a whole (+ 7.8 %), in particular if we consider the slowdown on the US banana market in recent years ( https://www.fruitrop.com/en/Articles-by-subject/Review-and-Forecasts/2020/Banana-market-in-2019-in-France-USA-Russia-Japan-and-China#book/3). Nonetheless, performances remained disappointing. Growth in sales was only identical to average growth for the fruits and vegetables section in March and April (+ 15 % and + 9 %), and above all it started to come undone from May, and particularly in June. In week 26, sales were back to last year’s level. The windfall effect seems to have been only a passing one.

Conversely, citruses emerged as the hands-down winners over this strange period, with a genuine explosion in sales, in both Europe and the USA. Note in particular the sales levels for oranges in May in the USA, 70 % higher than in 2019! An unprecedented figure, especially in spring. While the windfall effect on citrus sales slumped from June un Europe, with the easing of lockdown and the arrival of summer in the various EU countries, this was not the case in the USA, where they still seem to have the wind in their sales, bearing in mind that the summer citruses campaign has just started. This can probably be associated with the heavy toll this epidemic is taking across the Atlantic.