The Fresh Produce Journal Podcast
Jul 17, 2026 · 29 min · 15 segments
Which category has knocked the long-standing leader off the top of the FPJ Big 50 Products leaderboard? How have geopolitical conflict and inflation shaped the last year of fresh produce sales? And…
Fred SearleGuest
So for the first time since the Big 50 Products began, uh, which was over 10 years ago now, apples have been knocked off the top spot by strawberries.
Value was, was up, but, uh, volume was down by 2.5%, whereas strawberries had value growth of over 10% and volume growth of almost 10%.
So yeah, that's, that's a huge rise for such a mature category, and as in other categories, um, I think it's underpinned by some really impressive varietal development work.
Premiumization has been a big trend across all of the berry categories and other fruit categories as well.
It's driving repeat purchase, greater consistency, and also the category's been supported by some promotions and some new formats, bigger punnet sizes, which is driving consumption as well.
I mean, talking about apples then as well, you know, is it, is it because strawberries did really, really well in all those aspects that you mentioned, or was there some kind of reason there because apples have, have had a slightly weaker performance?
And yeah, although strawberries and other berries, um, are relatively premium products anyway in the wider fruit assortment, they maybe haven't been able to keep pace with that premium proposition.
And so, yeah, people have been dropping them from their shopping baskets to some extent.
When you say consumer confidence, do you mean people are, you know, not confident in the quality, or they just don't have as much to spend, so they're choosing a bit more selectively? Like, what is it?
So for the first time since the Big 50 Products began, uh, which was over 10 years ago now, apples have been knocked off the top spot by strawberries.
Value was, was up, but, uh, volume was down by 2.5%, whereas strawberries had value growth of over 10% and volume growth of almost 10%.
So yeah, that's, that's a huge rise for such a mature category, and as in other categories, um, I think it's underpinned by some really impressive varietal development work.
Premiumization has been a big trend across all of the berry categories and other fruit categories as well.
It's driving repeat purchase, greater consistency, and also the category's been supported by some promotions and some new formats, bigger punnet sizes, which is driving consumption as well.
I mean, talking about apples then as well, you know, is it, is it because strawberries did really, really well in all those aspects that you mentioned, or was there some kind of reason there because apples have, have had a slightly weaker performance?
And yeah, although strawberries and other berries, um, are relatively premium products anyway in the wider fruit assortment, they maybe haven't been able to keep pace with that premium proposition.
And so, yeah, people have been dropping them from their shopping baskets to some extent.
When you say consumer confidence, do you mean people are, you know, not confident in the quality, or they just don't have as much to spend, so they're choosing a bit more selectively? Like, what is it?
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