Organic produce sales are off to a strong year — the Organic Produce Network reported a 1.5% increase in dollars and a 0.8% increase in volume for Q2, compared to the same period last year. This reverses the volume loss trend organic produce experienced in 2021 and 2022. Total organic produce sales reached $2.4 billion for the quarter.
“The rate of organic sales growth — while still positive — slowed compared to past years, giving volume a chance to match that growth,” said Tom Barnes, CEO of Category Partners.
Conventional volume sales dropped 1.3% in 2023’s second quarter, compared to Q2 2022. However, dollar sales were up 2.0% for the category and overall sales totaled $18.8 billion.
Average prices for conventional produce went up by 3.4%, but this is down from +7.6% in Q2 2022. Meanwhile, organic prices only increased 0.8% for Q2 2023, down from +6.8% in the same quarter last year, suggesting “that inflation, while still evident, is not as apparent in organic produce as it was in conventional produce this past quarter,” Barnes added.
More than half of the top 20 organic fresh produce categories had dollar growth during the quarter, led by citrus (+19.4%) and bell peppers (+7.4%). Grapes (-17.8%) and avocados (-10.1%) decreased the most for the quarter. The categories with biggest jumps in volume sales in Q2 were onions (+23.9%) and citrus (+23.3%), while celery (-23.2%) and grapes (-22.8%) experienced significant decreases.
