Retail sales of melons in the United States grew 8% year-on-year in volume in the 52 weeks to May 28 to reach over 2.2 billion pounds.
This is being driven by a nearly 57% increase in the number of cantaloupes sold.
However, Nielsen data also shows that the spend on the melon category nevertheless went the other way, slipping 0.3% over the same period, though staying above the $1.12 billion mark.
Within the category it is the watermelon that generated the vast majority – nearly 81% – of melon sales, though just over 63% of the category’s overall value. Compared to the previous year, watermelon sales in the US were up 2% in volume, to over 1.77 billion pounds, but 0.2% was shaved off last year’s spend.
Meanwhile, cantaloupe sales increased 56.7% to the to the tune of 357 million pounds but despite such a robust upswing they too went the other way when it came to value, drifting down 0.2% to $708.6 million. Cantaloupe held a 29% share of the total melon spend off just a 16% share of the total volume sold.
The honeydew melon went the other way as the watermelon and cantaloupe, in the sense that the sales volume inched down – by 1.6%, though staying above 58 million pounds – while the spend rose, gaining 4.7% to reach $74 million.
Specialty melons showed the strongest dollar growth and they alone logged gains in both value and volume on last year, but this sub-category accounts for only a very small slice of melon sales in either value (1.92%) or volume (under 0.5%). Specifically, specialty melon sales rose 10.2% in volume to under 10.6 million pounds and 9.7% in spend to $13.6 million.
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