Fruit in Charts: The winners and losers of 2018 (Part 3 of 3)

The data we are using this method is not perfect, but it is the best method I have found with which to understand how markets are growing and compare commodities. Given that shipping point prices exaggerate high prices – mostly because they only capture the spot market which has to respond to deficits left by programs – the values when prices are high will be higher than they should be, but otherwise I believe this method to be representative of category growth.
Applying this to our entire dataset, we can then begin to formulate our best o
f 2018 with a bit more depth. As discussed in the previous article, the data for lemons and oranges are unfortunately distorted by new data that simply wasn’t being reported before. It doesn’t mean that they haven’t seen impressive growth in their own right, but it is hard to compare them to the other commodities. Setting those aside, the top commodities in the industry according to this ranking are limes, avocados and asparagus. These commodities in particular do a very good job demonstrating how growth can be split between price and volume, and looking at both together can be a useful tool to study the long term evolution of a commodity.

On the other hand, plums, nectarines and grapefruit all show increases in pricing but have demonstrated the least amount of growth given their decreasing volumes.

So this is the best of 2018. I look forward to highlighting some of the most intriguing stories in the market during 2019 and circling around next year to look at how each commodity has grown and evolved in a similar report for 2019.

In bold, the commodity “All” represents the average growth for all the products we have in Agronometrics, so commodities above this line should be more attractive than the ones below. To read this chart, keep in mind that 100% equals the same volume as last year, where anything above is growth and anything below is a loss.