peppers

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Sweet green still top selling pepper in US

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Retail sales of peppers in the United States grew 4.9% in value, to $1.3 billion, and 3.2% in volume, to 603.5 million pounds, year-over-year in the 52 weeks to September 26, 2015, Nielsen data shows.

The sweet green pepper was the biggest seller – accounting for 28.5% of the total spend in the category and nearly 40% of the volume sold – with total sales of $386.9 million (+1.2%) from 235 million pounds (+2.4%).

Next in volume came the sweet red pepper,  up 3.1% on the same period a year before to 118.7 million pounds, followed by the ‘other sweet’ category then hot jalapeno, sweet yellow and sweet orange peppers.

Among the top 10 varieties, the biggest growth YOY was for hot dried peppers, sales of which rose 22.9% in volume to 2.4 million lb while the spend was up nearly 35% to $14.1 million. There was also double digit growth in either the volume, spend or both for hot chilli, hot poblano, sweet yellow and sweet orange peppers.

Though off a much smaller base, sales of the hot ancho pepper shot up 74% in volume (to 25,588 lb) and 140.1% in value (to $205,569) and ‘other hot’ peppers climbed 8.6% in volume (to 116,971 lb) and 16.9% in value (to $8 million).

While sales of the hot habanero pepper fell 10.3% in volume, to 4.8 million lb, they gained 13.1% in value, for a total of $8.6 million. Similarly, sales of the hot Anaheim pepper slid 4.8% to 5.4 million but for a total spend up 4% to $8.6 million.

Down in both value and volume were the hot mixed, hot Scotch bonnet, hot cubanelle, hot habanero, sweet white and sweet purple peppers.

 

source: Nielsen

 

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500-600ha less pepper production in Israel

Israel's Arava pepper growing area has declined from 1,600-17,00 ha in 2014 to 1,100 hectares this year, a decrease of about 35%.

Israel’s Arava pepper growing area has declined from 1,600-17,00 ha in 2014 to 1,100 hectares this year, a decrease of about 35%.

This has occurred as part of a government-sponsored programme to convert pepper crops for export to crops for the domestic market.

Arava Regional Council agricultural director Hemi Barkan said about 90 pepper growers have joined the programme. “Out of a budget of INS 80 million, INS 70 million were used,” he said.

Pepper growers in Israel suffered from sharp drop in profit last year, due to declines in the ruble and euro, and the sanctions imposed by Russia and the EU.

The assistance program will continue till the end of 2016. Most growers are converting from growing peppers to growing Majhoul dates, eggplants, squash and coloured cherry tomatoes.

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Traffic light pepper packs remain popular in UK

Retail sales of peppers in the UK were up 10.1% in volume but down 6.6% in value for the 52 weeks to October 11 compared to the same period a year before, Kantar Worldpanel data shows.

Retail sales of peppers in the UK were up 10.1% in volume but down 6.6% in value for the 52 weeks to October 11 compared to the same period a year before, Kantar Worldpanel data shows.

Altogether, 115,720 tons of peppers were sold, for a total spend of £291.4 million (€413m).

The top seller in the pepper category was the traffic light pack, which with just over 50,000 tons sold accounted for 43% of all pepper sales. Sales of this pack were up 20% in volume and 9.4% in value, to nearly £112 million (€413m).

It was a different story however for the next biggest sellers, large mixed packs and red peppers. While sales of the large mixed packs (which accounted for 36% of total sales) were up 14.3% in volume (to 41,798 tons), they were down 8.3% in value, and those of red peppers were down in both volume, by 9.6%, and in value, by 16.7%.

Comparing the two periods, specialty peppers saw by gar the biggest growth in volume and in value, with respective leaps of 120%, to 987 tons, and 46.8%, to £4.7 million (€6.67m). The next highest growth, and off a slightly bigger base, was seen with Ramiro/pointed peppers, which rose 25.4% in volume to 2,597 tons and 11.3% in value to just over £15 million (€21.4m).

All other categories slipped, however.

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US greenlights pepper imports from Ecuador

Fresh peppers from Ecuador may be imported into the United States effective November 23. Under a final rule published by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on October 23, the peppers will have to have been produced in accordance with a systems approach

Fresh peppers from Ecuador may be imported into the United States effective November 23.

Under a final rule published by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on October 23, the peppers will have to have been produced in accordance with a systems approach.

“That includes requirements for fruit fly trapping, pre-harvest inspections, production sites, and packinghouse procedures designed to exclude quarantine pests. The fruit will also be required to be imported in commercial consignments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organisation of Ecuador stating that the consignment was produced and prepared for export in accordance with the requirements in the systems approach,” it said.

The rule applies to the following peppers:

  • common bell pepper (Capsicum annuumL.),
  • locoto pepper (Capsicum baccatum L.),
  • habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.),
  • tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.), and
  • manzano pepper (Capsicum pubescens Ruiz & Pav.).

According to the rule, fresh pepper yields in Ecuador expanded from about 12,522 pounds per hectare (pounds/ha) in 1996 to approximately 66,361 pounds/ha in 2006. APHIS estimates imports of no more than 10 containers (200 MT) of fresh peppers from Ecuador into the US annually.

“This quantity is equivalent to less than 0.02 percent of annual U.S. fresh pepper production. Similarly, the estimated quantity of fresh pepper imports from Ecuador (200 MT annually) is minimal compared to the total quantity of fresh peppers imported by the United States in recent years (800,000 MT annually).

“In the United States, the average value of bell pepper production per farm in 2012 was approximately $52,300, and the average value of chili pepper production per farm was approximately $20,700. Both levels are well below the small-entity standard of $750,000.”

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Price cuts push up pepper sales in UK

PEPPERS Red - Edited

Peppers among top 25 food items, with mixed colour packs the most popular

People in the UK have been eating more peppers but paying less for them. So while retail sales of peppers in the UK are up 10.7% in volume on a year ago, Kantar Worldpanel data shows they’re down 10.4% in value.

Comparing figures for the 52 weeks to December 7 with the same period a year before, the volume of peppers per buyer rose 8% to 5.43kg but their spend on peppers fell 12.7%  to £15.66. The price per kilogram of peppers dropped 20% – or £0.68 – to £2.88, outweighing the gained volume.

In total sales, the volume rose 10,253 tons to 105,889 tons while the value slid £35.2 million to £305.1 million.

According to Kantar, the price decrease took place across both full-price and promoted peppers. The level of promotions has not just been higher, they have been more generous compared to the previous year and mainly involved temporary price cuts rather than an increase in volume-based offers such as multi-buy deals.

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source: Kantar Worldpanel

Consumers mainly buying pre-packed, non-organic peppers

Meanwhile, peppers were 17th among the top 25 most bought items in food baskets ordered from mySupermarket.co.uk last year.

Data from its 50,000 monthly shoppers for the 12 months to the end of last November shows that on average, 19.45% – or about one in five – of all shopping baskets had peppers in them. Almost all these peppers were pre-packed and non-organic.

It also shows a small spike in pepper sales in January after which they tapered to a fairly consistent level for the rest of the year.

In terms of pepper types, mixed packs were the most popular, followed by red peppers.

 

source: mySupermarket.co.uk