Australia
July 13, 2012
Carrots have once again triumphed as the most popular vegetable item purchased by Australian households each week.
Recent figures for the 2012 first quarter show that 63 per cent of Australian households put carrots into their shopping trolleys each week, while potatoes were close behind, with 55 per cent of Aussie households deeming the humble spud an essential item on the shopping list.
“The popularity of carrots and potatoes for Australian consumers reflects the adaptability these vegetables have as staple ingredients in the kitchen, but also suggests that the consistent affordability of these vegetables continues to be a key factor for consumers,” said AUSVEG Manager of Industry Development and Communications, Andrew White.
AUSVEG is the National Peak Industry Body for around 9,000 of Australia’s vegetable and potato growers.
Compiled by market analysis and consulting firm Freshlogic, the recent data highlights the top 10 fresh vegetable items most commonly purchased in Australia this year to March 31, and compares these figures with data obtained for the 2011 final quarter.
“Pumpkin sales also rose by up to 5 percentage points during the first three months of 2012, which is likely the result of cooler than expected weather experienced in many areas of Australia,” Mr White said.
“Carrots, potatoes and pumpkins are all cornerstone ingredients of Aussie winter meals and the cooler than average weather that we’ve seen in many areas of Australia this year is probably one of the reasons why more households bought these hearty winter vegetables earlier than usual.”
Other popular vegetable items in the first quarter included tomatoes, purchased by 59 per cent of Australian households in their weekly shopping trip, as well as broccoli and onions, which both experienced strong sales increases in the 2012 first quarter.
The data also shows that a slightly smaller number of Australian households this year made more than six trips to the supermarket each week, however, the change is only slight and the longer term trend of more frequent top-up shops continues.
“Around 20 per cent of households are currently shopping more than six times a week compared with the last quarter of 2010 when only 11 per cent of households were shopping so frequently. Despite a slight shift to less frequent shopping this quarter, the long-term trend still indicates that consumers are shopping far more regularly, probably due to convenience factors,” said Mr White.
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