Inflation continued to impact organic fresh produce sales in the first quarter of 2023. Overall dollar sales grew by slightly less than one percent, and volume declined by 3.4 percent from the same year-over-year period.
The data was released by the Organic Produce Network this week and included in its Q1 2023 Organic Produce Performance Report. Overall, the total produce department gained 2.6 percent in dollars for Q1 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 and declined by 1.3 percent in volume. Sales of organic fresh produce totaled nearly $2.4 billion for the first quarter of 2023, while overall volume topped 703 million pounds.
Conventional produce dollars rose higher than organic dollars by about two percent and declined in volume by a smaller degree than organic. Current trends show both conventional and organic produce volume shrinking year over year.
However, while volume for conventional produce is below 2020 and organics are on par with 2020, both are consistently gaining in dollars.
