[THE INVESTOR] Banana-flavored snacks are helping to push up overall snack sales, retailers‘ data showed on July 22.

According to retail giant E-Mart, snack sales in the first quarter only grew 0.5 percent compared with the same period last year, but after banana-flavored munchies appeared in the market, sales grew 10 percent in April. They jumped 17.3 percent in June.

Banana has been literally “the new honey” for the market. Makers of chocolate pie snacks reaped instant success when they marketed the same snack in banana flavor in March.

In May, when E-Mart’s total sales fell 7.4 percent, snack sales managed to rise 1.4 percent, data showed.

Banana flavor cannot take all the credit for the boon, since related product sales have been slowing. The new market entrant marked a 140 percent increase in the month following its release in March but reversed to a 9.5 percent fall in April and 51.1 percent decrease in June.

()