December was a solid month for apples and pears, up 7% and 12% in dollar sales, respectively. Double-digit organic growth in categories and strong showings by core and emerging apple varieties drove great results.
Core and emerging apple varieties led to dollar growth in December. Core varieties (Honeycrisp, Gala, Granny Smith, and Fuji) all had steady growth, ranging from 3-15%. Proprietary varieties, including Cosmic Crisp® and Autumn Glory®, boasted significant dollar gains. Dollar declines in Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Cortland, and Braeburn partially offset these gains.
Autumn Glory® apple saw record December shipments, and we witnessed its growth nationwide. Sales were up 54%, and volume was up 102%. Autumn Glory excelled nationally, growing sales and volume by double- or triple-digits in most regions. Cosmic Crisp® apple continues to grow strongly but is not at the level witnessed in December 2019. Cosmic Crisp was up 7% in dollars and 18% in pounds nationally. Some regions saw sales growth in the triple digits, West North Central (+167%) and East South Central (+152%), while areas that carried Cosmic Crisp sales in 2019 slowed momentum: Pacific (-33%) and Mountain (-7%). Cosmic Crisp availability spread nationally due to increased volumes in the second year. Vital consumer programs continue the momentum of 2019, but there is much opportunity for retailers to help with merchandising programs. The Cosmic Crisp retailer toolkit is an excellent resource for building displays and digital programs.
December apple growth was strong, with category dollars up 7%, though volume was flat at 0.3%. The average pound price was 6.6% to $1.67/lb. Retail prices were all moving to the industry average. Proprietary varieties decreased to become more competitive with core and mature varieties. However, Core and mature varieties rose in price with increased demand and market growth, helping category growth overall. The proprietary price decline was evident with Cosmic Crisp, declining by 9% to $2.65/lb. And Autumn Glory is reducing by 24% to $1.85/lb. All other proprietary varieties also experienced a price decrease per pound.
The pear category was up +12% in sales and 6% in volume. The average price per pound was up +5% to $1.60/lb. Strong sales were a result of solid core pear growth: Bartlett (+17%), Anjou (+11%), Bosc (+12%), and Asian pears (+8%), along with Red Bartletts that were up an outstanding +107% in sales. Asian pears experienced a stellar +21.8% price increase per pound to $4.96/lb. Superfresh Growers will have a steady supply of Asian pears through the spring.
Organic apple share continued at a record percentage of 15.9% of category dollars and 11.4% in volume. Organics sales are up 10%, though volume is flat at -0.9%. The price per pound is up 11% to an average of $2.29/lb.
Organic pear growth continued its momentum from November, up 11% in dollars and 13% in volume. They still had a high category share of 15% for dollars and 11% for volume, though those were down from record November percentages.
Packaged apples and pears have remained strong during COVID-19, though they had moved to pre-COVID volume averages in October and November. For December, we are seeing slight rises over pre-COVID averages again. 41% of apple volume was packaged compared to the pre-COVID average of ~40%. 21% of pear volume was packaged compared to the pre-COVID average of ~18-20%. Nationally spiking COVID-19 cases seem to be shifting focus back to packaged apples and pears for convenience and perceived food safety.
We are here to support you during COVID-19 and continue to supply safe, fresh, and nutritious Northwest fruit.
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