Recently we began to notice how consumers have changed their purchasing habits when buying food products. And we pondered who could be responsible for such a change: new technologies, social media, society’s influence in general, among others.
Fruits and vegetables have undergone these changes in the last decade. Among the produce with the highest growth in consumption in the United States are the following: strawberries, avocados, broccoli, squash, and pineapples.
This increase in consumer demand has a direct impact on the volume produced in the United States and imports from other countries.
The following graph shows the growth of these products:
The increase in consumption has also caused the United States to open its borders to more international markets in order to supply the demand in the country.
A clear example is the avocado. Back in 2013, this fruit was produced in California and Florida, in addition to being imported from Mexico, Peru, Chile, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. While in 2019 it began to be imported from Colombia, Dominica and even from New Zealand. This is because in the last decade the increase in avocado consumption has grown by 78% (from 1,367,339,456 pounds in 2010 to 2,406,182,221 pounds in 2019).
Another aspect in which the increase in demand affects is the price the final consumer pays for the product. For example, in 2013 the pineapple was sold in stores nationwide at a minimum of $ 2.28 apiece and a maximum of $ 3.28, while in 2019 the maximum price it reached was $ 2.80 and the minimum reached $ 1.92.
This decrease is largely due to the increase in volume imported into the United States, which went from 720,044,209 pounds in 2010 to 1,022,764,539 pounds in 2019, which meant a 42% increase in imports.
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Strawberries give us another interesting insight. In 2013, strawberry production in Florida was 244,593,168 pounds, decreasing its production to 229,702,840 in 2018, that is, 6.08% less volume produced in this state. This difference and greater demand are being replaced by other production regions, but mainly by Mexico, which has increased its import from 2013 to 2018 by 22.5%.
These changes in consumption will continue to alter the United States market in relation to its customers and consumers. It will mark the agricultural food trends for 2020.
Article Courtesy AGTools