A hot summer has put a dent in Japanese fruit consumption, but higher average prices are keeping spending largely on track, with passable results in a few key categories.
Intense heat over July and August knocked the consumption level compared to the same time in previous years, local sources tell Fruitnet.com, taking the July average household consumption of fruit to 7.11kgs, a ten year low.
Despite that, the July figure was a good advance on June, which saw an average household consumption of just 5.92kg, down from 7.23kg the same month last year.
Higher prices kept July household spending at ¥3,263, on July 2009’s ¥3,296 and June 2010’s ¥2,645.
Banana consumption has continued its post-morning diet craze decline, but is still at solid levels on a ten-year average. July average household consumption settled to 1.78kg, from the previous month’s 2.06kg and July 2009’s 2.13kg. Banana prices in Japan have held steady for the last several months at around ¥224 per kg, similar to the same period last year.
Spending on kiwifruit, meanwhile, has done well on the back of increasing average prices. July average household spending on the fruit was ¥133, slightly higher than the same time last year and following the standard seasonal drop from the June peak.
While consumption by volume fell slightly on the year before, kiwifruit prices pegged an unseasonal rise from ¥765 per kg in June to ¥793 per kg in July, up from ¥735 the same time last year.
Grapefruit and oranges did well in the hot weather, with average July spending rising from ¥71 to ¥82 year-on-year for grapefruit, and ¥41 to ¥60 year-on-year for oranges. Both fruits saw a rise in volumes and average prices on the same time last year.
