Raspberries in Italy continue to yield mixed results: on one hand, in the calendar year ending on 30/06/23, there was an 11.2% increase in purchasing families, driven by an increase in penetration from 11.4% to 12.8%.
This means that there are 330,000 more families buying raspberries compared to a year ago. This is an important signal as it reverses a negative trend of recent periods, returning to penetration levels from two years ago.
The increase in penetration indicates a positive dynamism towards raspberries, which in the last 12 months achieved a net positive balance between new consumers and consumers who stopped buying raspberries.
But when you delve into spending details, all indicators show a decline, both in terms of quantities and values.
In other words, families are spending less and getting less product. The annual spending per family has indeed dropped from EUR 10.27 to EUR 9.40, a decrease of 17.5%.
The collapse in average spending has offset the positive effect of increased penetration, and total spending during the period dropped from 33 to 31 million Euros (-8.3%).
The quantity has followed a very similar trend, with average annual purchases dropping from 0.68 kg to 0.60 kg (-18.7%), resulting in the total quantity sold decreasing from 2156 to 1951 tons in 12 months.
Both the quantity and the value are, however, improving compared to the values recorded six months ago.
Analyzing the purchasing process, there is a decrease in purchase frequency: purchasing families have decreased to 3.3 purchases per year (-11.7% compared to 12 months ago), and the average quantity purchased has also decreased (0.18 kg, with a 7.9% decrease).
The price has only marginally increased (+1.4%), and it is still below the average inflation rate recorded during the same period by ISTAT (6.4%).
The price differential between raspberries and blueberries varied during the survey period (2020-2023) between 26% and 40%.
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