Steep drop in price as cauliflower demand slows

Retail cauliflower sales have slowed compared to early in the pandemic, though sales continue to post double-digit year-over-year growth.

In the latest scan data from IRI, retail cauliflower dollars are up more than 15% in the week ending July 12.

The decrease in demand has F.O.B. prices down sharply over the past few weeks, says David Wilson, vice president of sales for Agtools Inc.

Blue Book has teamed with Agtools Inc., the data analytic service for the produce industry, to look at a handful of crops and how they’re adjusting in the market during the pandemic.

Wilson notes cauliflower F.O.B. shipping prices for size 12’s conventional and organic have had a sharp drop over the past month, from $40 to $12 for organic and from $28 to $12 for conventional.

Total volume, year to date, is 316.9 million pounds, with California making up the bulk of production. Arizona had about 20% of cauliflower production, and Mexico had 7%.

Over the past three years, cauliflower volume has been relatively steady, Wilson says, at about 340 million pounds.