Cranberry Demand

The cranberry is one of few truly native North American crops. The Native Americans taught the early settlers of the uses and benefits of cranberries for food, medicine and dyes. For most Americans, cranberries remained primarily a seasonal food, with limited uses as jams, jellies and sauces. Fresh market demand in the past several decades has been fairly stagnant and even declined as consumers shift to processed products. Figure C.7 shows the changes that have occurred during the past three and one-half decades. The fresh demand for cranberries is quite small; currently around one-tenth of a pound per capita in the U.S. on average, a bag or two sold during the holidays. Growth in the cranberry industry would need to come from demand for processed products.

Early in the 20 th century, cranberry associations realized the need to increase demand and undertook an advertising campaign. The American Cranberry Exchange (ACE) promoted their “Eatmor” brand. ACE was proud of and carefully protected the quality of their fresh product. Some realized that the culled berries represented a real future. While lower in quality than the fresh berries sold under the “Eatmor” brand, the culled berries were wholesome food. Consumer demand was growing for processed foods. Thus, began the Ocean Spray brand of canned cranberries (for more history go to Ocean Spray.com or The U.S. Cranberry Industry: Historical Changes and the Current Situation). The industry adapted in the 1930s and 1940s to an existing largely unused supply and changing consumer demand.

The demand for cranberries has changed over the past several decades. In the 1960s, dominant sales were of whole and jellied cranberry sauces, and fresh berries. But demand for juice and cranberry cocktail were beginning to catch on. In the early 1960s, the first cranberry-apple juice blend was sold. Throughout the late 1950s and 1970s, the cranberry industry underwent numerous advances in technology and product development. After this period of development, the industry was poised to expand. Supply expanded and numerous new juice products were released on the market in the mid to late 1980s. From the late1970s through 1990, the industry witnessed growth in both supply and price.

Figure C.8 shows the per capita demand for processed cranberries compared to demand for fresh cranberries. During the late 1980s, processed demand was still growing following the rapid expansions that occurred earlier in that decade. Per capita demand, measured in terms of fresh berries, grew from about 1.25 pounds to over 2.1 pounds annually. After a brief decline during the industry's difficult periods in the late 1990s, demand for processed products has return to about two pounds per capita annually, and recently dried cranberry demand has grown substantially. By comparison, fresh cranberry demand remained at one-tenth of a pound or less throughout this period. On average, fresh cranberry demand was just five percent of total cranberry demand.

Despite the stagnant per capita demand for cranberries, overall demand, has grown substantially from 1962 through 2006, with one drop following the collapse of prices in the late 1990s. From 1962 to 2006 demand grew at an average rate of 3.8 percent. Population growth and rising exports have combined to create rising demand despite stagnant per capita demand.

Source: Figures were constructed using data from the Economic Research Service.