WENATCHEE, WASH. – Apple dollar sales went up another percent over the 12 weeks ending Feb. 26, according to the latest Fast Facts report from Stemilt Growers. 

“It’s pretty striking and good to see,” said Jocelyn Gerard, Stemilt merchandising manager. “We know that has to do with some of the inflationary factors and supply and demand.” 

In the produce department, apples made up 6% of dollar sales on a total US basis. In the Midwest region, they were 6.7% of total produce dollars. On the flipside, apple volumes were driven down 1.74% nationally by a smaller national crop compared to the same time period last year.  

Due to a smaller crop and food inflation, apple dollars are up nearly 8% nationally in just one year. Organics were 12% of apple category volume nationally and 16% of category sales during this period. In the Northeast region, organics were 15% of apple volume and 20.5% of sales during this period  

The top six apples by volume pounds sold were: Gala at 22% of apple pounds sold, Honeycrisp at 19.7%, Fuji at 11.6%, Granny Smith at 10.7%, Red Delicious at 9.2% and Pink Lady® at 5.6%. All varieties experienced dollar sales lift because of rising apple retails.