During the 52-week period ended 26 January 2013, the overall value-added category averaged sales of US$1,784 per store per week on the US retail market.
The result marks a 9.5 per cent increase compared with the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by Nielsen Perishables Group.
Busy families and inexperienced cooks alike see value-added fruit as an easy way to reduce preparation time and have healthy snacks on hand.
The value-added category in the US includes three sub-categories: fresh-cut fruit; overwrapped fruit; and jars and cups.
Fresh-cut fruit made up 77.4 per cent of the category's dollar sales on the US market.
Value-added fruit’s dollar growth outpaced total fruit's and the total produce department's, which increased 1.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively.
However, value-added fruit pricing increased at a greater rate: up 7.2 per cent from the prior year, while produce increased 1.0 per cent and fruit climbed 3.0 per cent.
Nationally, value-added fruit represented 4.0 per cent of the produce department’s dollar sales, with the category taking largest share of the department sales in the South region, at 4.9 per cent, followed by the Central region at 4.1 per cent.
The East, Central and South regions of the US all averaged weekly store sales greater than US$1,900, while the West region averaged US$1,365 per store per week.
A full report will be published in Americafruit's April/May issue.
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