How successful the industry-promotional campaign will be at expanding consumption will be a good indicator of what might be ahead for many fruits as more are being studied for their health benefits. Fresh fruits and vegetable prices have risen faster than processed prices. Strong demand relative to other foods is largely credited for this phenomenon. However, even within the fruit and vegetable industries, fresh prices have risen faster than processed. In times of oversupply, growers want retail prices to reflect fully the nature of supply to move as much of the product as possible to keep their revenue streams up.
Retailers argue that they do move prices down to reflect lower wholesale prices.
Unfortunately, the relative percentage changes never match because the grower price is generally only a quarter to a third of the final retail price with the remainder made up of marketing services such as transportation, labor and store overhead costs. Because of the nature of fresh produce prices, marketing margins can vary widely during the year. However, they usually average out over the course of a year.