Lettuce is an annual plant widely cultivated for its tender leaves eaten as a vegetable, usually raw in salads. Lettuce can be used in numerous dishes, sandwiches, soups, and salads, it can be eaten raw or cooked; the latter being a common practice in China due to the cultural aversion to eating raw leaves.

 

The lettuce market can be segmented intro three categories:

• Head lettuce (including iceberg lettuce);
• Leaf lettuce;
• Romaine lettuce

 

This report includes major growers, packagers, equipment suppliers and retailers in California.

 

China dominates the world production of lettuce with more than half of the global production, the United-States comes second. California grows about three quarters of the U.S production and lettuce is the leading vegetable crop in terms of value, followed by tomatoes. The counties of Monterey and Imperial represent more than half of the production within the State. The average lettuce yield tends to improve over the years and production practices are changing; the emergence of vertical farming could change the industry landscape in the coming years.

 

Due to the perishable nature of lettuce, less than 10% of the lettuce harvested in California are exported abroad and Canada is the main recipient with almost 90% of the total exports.

 

The industry was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, the increase in retail markets did not offset the loss of food service demand for leafy greens and part of the crop was destroyed. However, the industry benefited from the following gradual reopening of restaurants and food services in the U.S.

 

Californians mostly consume lettuce in salads at restaurants where lettuce is mixed with a variety of vegetables and fruits. At restaurants, Southern Californians want to have access to a wide variety of salads or the option of customizing their own salads. In grocery stores, bagged salad mixes are as popular as ever in California and lettuce remains the undisputed sales leader among organic vegetables.