Sales Of Organic Produce Surge During Pandemic

Sales of organic fruits and vegetables have surged during the pandemic, but sales and volume rankings have remained fairly consistent, according to the third-quarter Organic Produce Performance Report released Oct. 21 by the Organic Produce Network and Category Partners. 

Packaged salads were the bestselling organic produce item during the third quarter followed by strawberries, apples, blueberries, lettuce, herbs and spices, carrots, bananas, grapes and tomatoes, according to the report.
Those 10 categories accounted for 70% of all organic dollar growth.

Once again, total organic fresh produce sales and volume registered double-digit growth, with July-September sales increasing 16%, and volume up 15% from the same period in 2019.

Bananas remained the volume leader, accounting for 18% of total volume and increasing by 8.3% from the previous year.

“Organic bananas have made huge strides this year,” said Matt Seeley, CEO of the Organic Produce Network.
Seeley cited two reasons for the organic category’s strong performance since March.

“First, people are eating at home more and experimenting with different items, providing a great opportunity to use new/different organic items as ingredients in their meal preparation,” he said.

Organic ginger root, for example, has done well during the pandemic.