The U.S.'s imports of both fruit and vegetables fell in April this year, with the decline largely driven by the fresh category.

Total fruit imports (including fresh, frozen, dried, and juice) were down 15% year-on-year at US$1.7bn, according to USDA data.

Fresh citrus was down by 36%, fresh delicious fell by 21%, and fresh fruit in the 'other' - which makes up around half of the total fruit category and includes avocados, bananas, and berries - was down by 16%.

Conversely, frozen fruit rose by 20%, while processed fruit increased by 8%.

Meanwhile, total vegetable imports into the U.S. stayed relatively stable, falling by only 2% in April to US$1.3bn.

Imports of fresh vegetables excluding potatoes dropped by 8%, while fresh potatoes rose by 46%, albeit from a considerably lower level.

Frozen vegetables saw a small decline of 3%, but 'prepared or preserved' vegetables shot up by 28%.

IRI data for produce sales at U.S. retail in April - the first full calendar month after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic - showed that fresh, frozen and canned produce all got a sales lift. However, the latter two categories consistently saw much higher levels of growth than fresh.