Peanut Butter

January 17, 2012 — The Editors

In the United States peanuts are popular. They form the basis for a staple of many American diets, peanut butter, a reasonably priced source of protien. As a consequence, there has been much press coverage lately about the likely increase in the price of peanut butter. The poor peanut crop in 2011 has caused raw peanut prices to rise and this increased price is expected to be seen on grocery store shelves shortly.

Today’s market size is the size of the market for peanuts for use in the production of peanut butter in the United States. In the year 2000 peanut butter accounted for the end use on half the peanut crop and in 2009 peanut butter accounted for 63.5% of peanut usage.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2009
Market size: 753 million pounds and 1.19 billion pounds respectively.
Source: “Peanut Use by Type of Product,” part of the USDA’s Economic Research Service series of reports on the availability of foods by type, available here.

Original source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Posted on January 17, 2012

Posted in Agriculture, Food, Food Processing. No Comments »

Cantaloups and Other Agricultural Commodities

December 30, 2011 — The Editors

Being people who work with statistical data every day it was with great pleasure that we read recently that the USDA has decided to reverse its earlier decision to eliminate dozens of longstanding statistical reports that it has maintained for decades. Turns out the industries being covered by these reports find them extremely valuable, essencial really. So, industry leaders explained just how important those reports are to their planning and financing and the USDA reconsidered. We find this development most encouraging. Some things really are best done at the large scale by an entity not motivated by its own commercial interests.

Today’s market size, selected from a long list of indept USDA commodity reports, is the market for domestic cantaloup. It is the value (farm value or wholesale value) of cantaloups harvested in in the United States in 2010 when 77,430 acres were planted with cantaloup.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $314.4 million
Source: William Neuman, “U.S. Reverses Decision To End Farming Reports,” The New York Times, December 24, 2011, page B3, available online here. The USDA report on cantaloups can be found online here. The figure used here is from Table 3—U.S. cantaloup: Acreage, yield, production, and value, 1950-2010.
Original source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Posted on December 30, 2011

Posted in Agriculture, Food, Information Technology, National Infrastructure. 1 Comment »

Caviar

December 19, 2011 — The Editors

Caviar is one of those luxury items that has not seen a great decline during the recession and financial crisis that started in 2007 and 2008. In fact, demand for caviar has been strong and since over fishing in the Caspian Sea has left the sturgeon species depleted in that region, farms are emerging around the world to produce caviar and meet the strong demand.

In the 1970s, an estimated 550 tons of caviar were produced annually around the world. This caviar came primarily from wild sturgeon. Fourty years later, production comes primarily from farm raised sturgeon and while production is down sharply from the highs of the 1970s, it is expected to continue rising into the foreseeable future.

Today’s market size is the estimated total world production of caviar in 2010.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2010
Market size: 250 tons with a wholesale price in the range of $500 to $600 per pound.
Source: Raphael Minder, “Caviar Migrates Beyond The Caspian Region,” The New York Times, December 17, 2011, page B3.
Original source: Patrick Williot
Posted on December 17, 2011

Posted in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Food, Hunting & Fishing. No Comments »

Grocery Stores

October 12, 2011 — The Editors

Groceries

Food is something necessary to life and so it may seem, to those not in the business, that grocery stores would be ammune to recessions. For the most part, U.S. grocery stores as an industry have weathered the two recessions of the decade 2000—2009 far better then other industries. But, as can be seen in the graph, even grocery stores saw sales slow during the recessions.

Today’s market size is the estimated total of sales by grocery stores and supermarkets in the United States in 2000 and 2009. These sales totals do not includes the sales made through convenience stores.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2009
Market size: $381.72 billion and $487.41 billion respectively
Source: “Estimated Annual Sales of U.S. Retail and Food Service Firms by Kind of Business: 1998 Through 2009,” Annual Retail Trade Survey—2009, available in a PDF format here. For links to these data as well as earlier U.S. Annual Trade Survey data, check this Census Bureau site.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
Posted on October 12, 2011

Posted in Food, Retail Outlets. No Comments »

Farmers Markets

August 8, 2011 — The Editors

Our selection of a market for today’s post was made to honor National Farmers Market Week.

Over the past 40 years, farmers markets have grown in popularity. As people become more health conscious and demand locally- and organically-grown foods, more and more cities and towns host farmers markets in the summertime. In 2010, there were also nearly 900 farmers markets operating in the wintertime (November through March). According to a new report by an agricultural economist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, increasing the number of farmers markets could create tens of thousands of jobs in economically struggling rural and urban areas.

To promote farmers markets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture instituted National Farmers Market Week in 2000. In 2011, National Farmers Market Week is August 7-13. Data show the number of farmers markets nationwide in 1970 and 2011.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1970 and 2011
Market Size: 340 and more than 7,000 respectively
Source: “Farmers Markets Boost Local Economies,” WLNS.com, August 4, 2011, available online here; Sam Jones-Ellard, “USDA Highlights Nearly 900 Operating Winter Markets; Many Markets Located in Cold-Weather States,” Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, December 8, 2010, available online here.

Posted in Agriculture, Food, Retail Outlets. 3 Comments »

Fish Catch

July 13, 2011 — The Editors

While many spend summer hours in the often leisurely act of fishing, we look today to fishery production for our market size. The market presented below is the size of the domestic catch in the United States for 2008. This does not include, of course, all those Rock Bass, Walleye, Trout, Bluegill, Pike and Perch being pulled from lakes and streams all over the country by sports fisherman. Rather it is the size of the commercial catch.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: 8,326 million pounds
Source: “Table 889. Fishery Products—Domestic Catch, Imports, and Dispostion: 1990 to 2008,” Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, January 2011, Page 566, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Census Bureau

Posted in Aquaculture, Food, Natural Resources. No Comments »

Agaricus & Specialty Mushrooms

June 1, 2011 — The Editors

There were 312 growers of agricus and specialty mushrooms in the United States in the 2009-2010 growing season. Today’s market size is the estimated value of their crop of agricus and specialty mushrooms. The State of Pennsylvania was the leading state for this crop with a 49.56% share of the total crop. California was the next largest producing state with a 20.78% share and Washington was the third largest with a 2.48% share.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009-2010 Season
Market size: $924.86 million
Source: “Mushrooms,” one in a series of crop reports produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, last updated on August 19, 2010. Here is a link to the USDA report on mushrooms.
Original Source: U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA)

Posted in Agriculture, Food. 1 Comment »

Pets in Japan

April 25, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market size is an estimated size for the pet care sector in Japan. This is a measure of the market for all products and services related to household pets. In Japan, one third of this market is made up of pet food. As in the United States, the pet sector is growing strongly in Japan. However, based on a calculation of population to estimated pet dog and cat numbers, fewer than half as many Japanese households have a dog or cat as a pet as U.S. households.

Geographic reference: Japan
Year: 2009
Market size: ¥1.2 Trillion (approximately $12.96 Billion based on the exchange rate on December 31, 2009)
Source: “At ¥1.2 Trillion, Pet Sector Recession-Proof,” The Japan Times Online, October 28, 2010, available online here.
Original Source: Fuji Keisai Company

Posted in Food, Pet Care. 2 Comments »

Chicken Eggs

April 22, 2011 — The Editors

Poultry and poultry products are a growing agricultural segment in the United States. The state that produces the greatest number of chicken eggs in the United States is Iowa, which in 2010 accounted for 16% of national production. Their leadership in this market is relatively new. As of 1998 Iowa’s chicken egg production accounted for 7.5% of the national total.

Wishes for a happy Easter Holiday to all.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1998 and 2010
Market size: 79,717 and 91,398 Million Eggs
Source: “Chickens and Eggs 2010 Summary,” one in a series of reports put out regularly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is accessible online here. The 1998 data come from an earlier edition of this same report. These earlier USDA reports may be accessed here.

Posted in Agriculture, Food. No Comments »

Fresh Vegetables, Exports & Imports

April 15, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market sizes are the value of fresh fruit exported from and imported into the United States. Two year’s worth of import and export figures are provided. The export values are based on free alongside ship (FAS) values at the U.S. port of exportation while the import values are based on customs value at the U.S. port of entry.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010 and 2020
Market size: Exports: $2,060 and $2,791 Million respectively
Market size: Imports: $5,180 and $8,985 Million respectively
Source: “Table 29. Horticultural crops long-term export and import projections, fiscal years,” USDA Agricultural Projections to 2020, page 80, February 2011, available online here.
Original Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on April 15, 2011

Posted in Agriculture, Food, International Trade. No Comments »
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