MONTEREY, CA - Consumers continue to choose organics to fill their baskets—and the numbers don’t lie. Recently, Organic Produce Network (OPN) and Category Partners detailed in their Q1 2022 Organic Produce Performance Report that the total organic fresh produce sales increased by 4 percent from the same period last year, topping $2.3 billion for the quarter.
“While organic fresh produce volume declined for the first time in a long while, organic dollar sales continue to grow even after consecutive years of growth due to higher prices across the entire produce department,” said Matt Seeley, Chief Executive Officer of OPN. “There remains room for growth of organic fresh produce as long as suppliers remain aware of not only the rising costs of organic produce but also the opportunity presented by a significantly larger increase in conventional produce prices.”
According to the release, higher average retail pricing in Q1 is responsible for most of the sales gains of produce items, with conventional produce average pricing up more than 10 percent compared to Q1 of last year. By contrast, organic fresh produce pricing rose just below 5 percent, suggesting it has been able to absorb more of the increased costs related to the current inflationary environment.
While organic fresh produce sales continued to grow in Q1, overall volume declined due to elevated pricing.
“There are some strong takeaways from the Q1 data, most notably that overall volumes remain elevated from Q1 2019, before the Covid pandemic drove double-digit sales and volume gains at retail,” said Tom Barnes, Chief Executive Officer of Category Partners. “We believe the second quarter of this year will tell a similar story as we move further away from 2020 when the pandemic shuttered most foodservice, causing supermarket sales to soar.”
It was noted in the report that the packaged salads category continued to dominate in total organic dollars, reaching nearly $400 million for the quarter, a gain of 1.5 percent year-over-year.
Additionally, the southern region of the United States continued to show the most year-over-year improvement, with dollar growth rising 8 percent, and volume up 3.6 percent.
For the full Q1 2022 Organic Produce Performance Report, click here.
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