Fruits

A fruit is any seed-bearing structure produced from a flowering plant. A widely used classification system divides fruit into fleshy or dry types. Fleshy fruits are juicy and include peaches, mangos, apples, and blueberries. Dry fruits include tree nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and pecans. Some foods that are commonly called vegetables, such as tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplant, are technically fruits because they develop from the ovary of a flower.

Worldwide, over 430 million tons of fruit are produced each year and are grown everywhere except the Arctic and the Antarctic. The tropics, because of their abundant moisture and warm temperatures, produce the most diverse and abundant fruits. Mexico and Chile produce more than half of all the fresh and frozen fruit imported into the US. In the US, the top three fruits produced are oranges, grapes, and apples. Virtually all US production of almonds, pistachios, and walnuts occurs in California, which leads the US in tree nut production.

Prices – Fruit prices were strong in 2001, the last reporting year, with the fresh fruit CPI index rising +2.6% to 265.1 and the processed fruit CPI index rising +2.0% to 109.0. The largest price increases in 2001 were seen in navel oranges which rallied 18% to 72.2 cents per pound, grapefruit which rallied +6.7% to 65.1 cents per pound, and seedless grapes which rallied +6.0% to $1.85 per pound. The largest declines were seen in Valencia oranges, which fell –14.1% to 52.4 cents per pound, and Delicious apples, which fell 5.5% to 86.8 cents per pound.

Supply – US commercial production of selected fruits in 2001, the last reporting year, fell –8.8% to 32.992 million tons from 36.182 million tons in 2000. Oranges accounted for 37% of that US fruit production figure, followed by grapes at 20%, and apples at 15%. The value of US fruit production in 2001 was $11.694 billion.

Demand – US per capita fresh fruit consumption in 2001 fell 3.0% to 97.53 pounds from 100.50 pounds in 2000 and the record high of 101.58 pounds in 1998. The highest per capita consumption categories for non-citrus fruits in 2001 were bananas (26.53 pounds), apples (15.81 pounds), grapes (7.59 pounds), nectarines and peaches (5.25 pounds), and strawberries (4.23 pounds). Per capital consumption of citrus fruits was the highest for oranges (12.32 pounds), followed by grapefruit (4.82 pounds) and lemons (2.96 pounds).

The utilization breakdown for 2001 shows that 39% of total US fruit utilization went for fresh fruit, 21% for wine, 14% for dried fruit, 11% for canned fruit, 9% for juice, and 4% for frozen fruit.