Specialty crops research

Tomato prices surged 40% as weather and duties tightened supply, while organic produce premiums pressure younger, cost-conscious consumers.

• tomatoes
• organic

Rice prices recover as shrinking U.S. and global production tightens supplies, while cotton exports and sugar demand show strength.

• cotton
• rice
• sugar

Away-from-home coffee sales suggest consumers are exploring a range of approaches to handle double-digit cost increases, including DIY. With 30% of all U.S. organic sales, produce maintains its lead in organic product market share. An increasingly K-shaped economy suggests the price of organic goods may well limit their ultimate audience to higher-income consumers.

• coffee

Futures prices of cocoa have dropped by almost half since the first of the year. But retail pricing of chocolate brands continues to be elevated, as cocoa prices outpace traditional levels posted two-plus years ago.

• cocoa

Valentine’s Day shoppers with chocolates on their list are in for sticker shock, continuing what they saw at Halloween and Christmas. Thanks to distinctly higher wholesale costs for sugar and particularly cocoa, consumers are paying 9.2% more than a year ago for confections, outpacing broader inflation. Chocolate prices have already surged 17% in the U.S. over the past two years, per Euromonitor International. Not surprisingly, volume sales for the chocolate confections category are 5% below their year-ago levels (for the 52 weeks ending Dec. 17, 2023), according to Circana data.

• cocoa
• sugar

On July 20, the Indian government banned the export of non-basmati white rice to “to allay the rise in prices in the domestic market” stemming from threats posed by Black Sea geopolitics, El Nino and extreme climatic conditions in other rice-producing countries. The ban affects 7-8 million metric tons of Indian rice exports, or 15% of global rice trade.

• rice

Vertical farms face mounting pressure to cut costs and refine their business models as high energy use, capital intensity, and market competition challenge the path to long‑term profitability.

• vertical farms