Fruit & Vegetable Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,600 fruit and vegetable manufacturers in the US produce frozen foods and juices; canned fruits, vegetables and specialty foods; and dried and dehydrated foods and mixes. Canned foods account for about 46% of industry revenue, while frozen foods are 45%. The fruit and vegetable manufacturing industry is concentrated – the top 50 companies account for about 64% of industry revenue.
Stricter Food Labeling Requirements
Fruit and vegetable manufacturers must comply with a variety of food labeling regulations.
Variable Fruit And Vegetable Supply
The supply of fruit and vegetables available for processors varies by season and year-to-year due to changes in growing conditions and the number of acres harvested by growers.
Industry size & Structure
The average fruit and vegetable manufacturer operates a single location, employs 106 workers and generates $45-46 million in annual revenue.
- The US fruit and vegetable manufacturing industry consists of about 1,600 companies that employ 168,800 workers and generate $72.5 billion in annual revenue.
- About 550 companies produce frozen foods, 837 produce canned products, and 204 produce dried and dehydrated products.
- Adults in the US consume about 1-2 cups of fruits and about 1-2 cups of vegetables per day. Annual per capita consumption is about 130 pounds for frozen, canned or dried fruits and 206 pounds for frozen, canned, or dried vegetables.
- The fruit and vegetable manufacturing industry is concentrated - the top 50 companies account for about 64% of industry revenue.
- Large US companies include Dole Food Company, Del Monte Corporation, The Schwan Food Company, Campbell Soup Company, JR Simplot, and Kraft Heinz Company.
Industry Forecast
Fruit & Vegetable Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 23, 2023 - Rising Demand for Cold Storage
- High demand for cold storage space is expected to persist throughout 2023, as food and beverage companies look to quickly increase capacity, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods (R&FF) reports. Moreover, increasing demand from retailers for fresh and frozen foods is straining US cold storage capacity. Responding to heightened demand, cold storage construction is projected to reach $18.6 billion in value by 2027 – an increase of 13.8% per year, according to Emergen Research. Reports project the total market for cold storage will reach $212 billion by 2025, yet capacity is only projected to grow by 1% this year. Food and beverage companies looking to add build-to-suit cold storage facilities will find projects challenging from a location and timeline perspective, according to R&FF. The US’s cold storage capacity is aging and outdated, with 78% of existing facilities built before 2000, according to Emergen Research.
- Grocery price inflation is driving sales and volume growth of private-label products, the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) reported in its 2023 Private Label Report. Store brands, which typically cost less than national brand products, contributed to an 11.3% sector sales increase in 2022, according to full-year data from IRI Unify. In 2022, store brands’ annual dollar volume increased by $23.2 billion, setting a new record of $228.6 billion for sales across all US retailing channels, according to the PLMA report. The fastest-growing segments are beverages, up 19% to $12 billion; deli prepared foods, up 17% to $5.9 billion; and refrigerated foods, up 17% to $47.4 billion.
- Retail sales of frozen food increased by $19.4 billion between 2018 and 2022, sparked by pandemic-induced buying that’s continued even as COVID-19 has subsided, according to the American Frozen Food Institute. Overall, sales of frozen foods topped $72 billion last year – up 8.6% over 2021 – although unit sales declined by 5.1% year over year. Sales of frozen fruits and vegetables climbed 27.2% over the same period – to $7.6 billion last year – with unit sales up 3.6%. US consumers are still preparing more meals at home and they continue to purchase frozen foods much more frequently than pre-pandemic, with trips to the frozen food department up 13.1% to 48 trips per year, according to the 2022 Frozen Fruit and Vegetables study conducted by 210 Analytics.
- Millions of Americans lost their enhanced food-stamp benefits in March when a pandemic-era boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) came to an end, Food Manufacturing (FM) reported. Many of the roughly 41 million Americans enrolled in the SNAP program lost an average of about $90 per person a month – money that had kept many out of poverty while boosting the US economy. A temporary arrangement passed by Congress in 2020 allowed all families that were eligible for SNAP to get the maximum allowable benefit amount for the size of their household. As of March, however, SNAP benefits were once again distributed everywhere on a sliding scale based on income levels, FM reports. Some states began to drop the extra benefits in the spring of 2021. But 32 states and the District of Columbia were still offering the full benefit.
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