10/19/07 New fruit and vegetable retail price report

Washington Ag October 19, 2007 Weekly advertised retail activity and prices on the most commonly consumed fresh fruits and vegetables, including several organic items, are in a new report issued Friday's by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. The AMS surveys more than 200 retailers' web sites covering roughly 17-thousand individual stores across the United States. Weighted average retail prices at both regional and national levels are reported and AMS's Rich Demenez says more than retailers are interested in the report. Demenez: "We know that these grower organizations are going to use it that represent specific commodities. I have had growers call up that pack and ship for produce companies that said they will certainly utilize the report to get an idea what the going retail rate is as a tool for them to maybe get a better price return." The report adds retail market coverage to the wholesale and shipping point market coverage previously provided by the AMS. The report can be viewed at no cost on the Fruit and Vegetable Market News Portal Web site market news.ams.udsa.1gov/portal/fv I'm Bob Hoff.