Grilling was a popular theme for advertisements this week with Labor Day weekend just around the corner. Many retailers focused on traditional cookout favorites like corn, bell peppers, asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet onions, eggplant, and tomatoes. Some stores took it a step further by providing creative grilling ideas for other produce such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, pineapples, peaches, nectarines, and romaine lettuce.
Fresh summer fruit continued to be promoted, with grapes, melons, and berries highly featured. Tangerines, baby carrots, and grape tomatoes were on hand for packing school lunches. Seasonal and floral sections featured back-to-school items and fall decorations.
Total ad numbers this week were 285,496, a 12% decrease from last week's total of 325,888. The total for the same week last year was 2% lower at 281,165. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 162,477 (57% of all ads), onions and potatoes 19,578 (7%), vegetables 96,296 (34%), herbs 1,314, ornamentals 3,200, and hemp 3,945.
The number of ads for organic produce was 33,802, 12% of total ads. The following are the prices of major advertised items (3,000 plus ads) this week, compared to the same week last year. Significant increases in price for fruit this week included seedless grapes (red at 32%, white at 23%, organic white at 12%), and yellow nectarines at 20%. Significant decreases included blackberries (5.6-6 oz.) at 20% and Honeycrisp apples at 15%. There were no significant changes in price for potatoes and onions this week. There were no significant increases nor decreases in price for vegetables this week.
Source: USDA Market report