Price check: Cherries, grapes up, peaches down in retailer ads

Retailers focused on graduation and Father's Day celebrations last week by offering a wide array of festive produce favorites. Conventional and organic fruit was promoted heavily, especially peaches, nectarines, cherries, cantaloupes and watermelons.

Several chains offered summertime convenience items like trays of burger fixings containing onions, lettuce and tomatoes, and ready-made kabobs featuring zucchini, pineapple, cherry tomatoes and Bell peppers. Other grill-friendly items such as sweet onions, corn, asparagus and Portobella mushrooms were also popular. Floral and seasonal departments carried gifts and themed floral arrangements geared to make graduation and Father's Day extra memorable this year.

Total ad numbers for the week were 272,793, a 1 percent increase from the previous week's total of 269,480. The total for the same week last year was 12 percent higher at 308,356. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 152,975 (56 percent), onions and potatoes 18,461 (7 percent), vegetables 96,896 (35 percent), herbs 996, ornamentals 1,198 and hemp 3,263. The number of ads for organic produce was 43,034, 16 percent of total ads.

Compared to the same week last year there were significant increases in the advertised price for red cherries at 38 percent, seedless red grapes at 32 percent, round mangos at 17 percent, blueberries, organic strawberries at 11 percent, asparagus at 18 percent and packaged salad at 11 percent.

Based on advertised prices, significant decreases from last year included white and yellow peaches, both at 12 percent, white nectarines at 11 percent and long seedless cucumbers at 19 percent.

For more details see the full report here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvwretail.pdf.