Produce demand drops (KR)
Fresh produce demand is a good proxy for food-at-home consumption because fresh produce is not stored. Fresh vegetable demand is a good indicator for at-home meal preparation. Produce demand in March decreased 7.6% YOY. Compared to 2019, fresh produce sales at retail were up 11%. Early in the pandemic, consumers stockpiled food. Frozen fruits and vegetables were down 28.7% in March, while canned fruits and vegetables were down 45.3%.
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Wine DTC shipments continue to grow (BSPE)
Winery DTC shipments in March grew 16% YOY to nearly $500M. Shipment volumes grew more than 10% YOY. Over the past 12 months, shipment values have increased 17% to $3.8B. Case volumes grew 27% to 8.7M cases. The average bottle price of shipments increased 6% to $44.71 in March. Retail off-premise sales tracked by Nielsen fell 14%, while volumes fell 19%. While off-premise wine sales decreased as the pandemic was anniversaries, the more profitable channel DTC continued to grow. Vintage Wine Estates has roughly 1/3 of its sales in the DTC, off-premise, and B2B channels.
Craft beer grows 6% in Q1 (SAM)
Off-premise sales of craft beer have grown 6% through the first quarter of 2021. In 2020 off-premise sales of craft beer grew 14.7%, while the overall beer category grew 15.2%. In the grocery, drug, and mass merchant channels, craft sales grew 2.5%, while in the convenience channel, craft grew 16.8%. Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White remains the top-selling craft brand, but sales declined 2.2% in Q1. 12 of the top 15 craft brands grew in Q1. Boston Beer sales declined 2.9% in Q1. By packaging 6-pack bottles decreased 5%, 6-pack cans grew 14%, 12-pack cans grew 28%, and 12-pack bottles decreased 8%. Through April 3, the total beer category is up 6.8%.
