Jul 15, 2021Organic potato sales see slight dip during second quarter
Total organic fresh produce sales for the second quarter of 2021 saw a continuation of year-over-year growth, increasing by 4% from the same period last year and nearing $2.3 billion for the quarter, according to the Q2 2021 Organic Produce Performance Report released exclusively by Organic Produce Network and Category Partners.
Organic fresh produce sales and volume in the second quarter of 2021 continued to show year-over-year growth despite the fact that the second quarter of last year was when the COVID pandemic shuttered most foodservice outlets, causing supermarket sales to soar. Organic fresh produce sales totaled $2.296 billion for the quarter, up 4.1% in sales and 0.2% in volume, while conventional produce saw dollar sales decrease by 3.3% and volume off by 8.6% compared to the same period a year ago.
Organic fresh potato sales totaled $66 million during the quarter, which was a 2.4% decline from 2020. Potatoes ranked 10th among organic produce categories.
“It’s apparent that consumer supermarket food purchases now increasingly reflect the more traditional buying trends versus COVID-inspired purchasing changes. It is also encouraging that even though consumer purchases of conventional produce were lower than Q2 2020, organic produce continued to generate growth,” said Steve Lutz, senior vice president of insights and innovation at Category Partners.
Berries displaced bagged salads as the top organic produce categories. Organic berry sales totaled $435 million during the quarter.
During the second quarter, year-over-year organic sales and volume declined in the Western part of the United States, where normally the region leads the nation. Compared to the second quarter of 2020, where the West region showed organic sales soaring by 17% and volume up by 18%, Q2 2021 showed a small decline in dollars (0.2%) and a volume decrease of 3.9%. While the West continued to lead in total sales and volume, the strongest year-over-year gains for the quarter were seen in the Northeast region, where dollar sales jumped by 7.7% and volume increased by 3.6%.
The Q1 2021 Organic Produce Performance Report utilized Nielsen retail scan data covering total food sales and outlets in the U.S. over the months of January, February, and March. The full Q1 2021 Organic Produce Performance Report is available at www.organicproducenetwork.com/education.
