Yesterday I posted a link to a story about how salsa has become more popular than ketchup and asked what factors might are more responsible--demand side factors or supply side factors?
My guess is that its mostly demand side. Here are a few for illustration:
1. Tastes of Americans have changed to have more appreciation for spicy food
2. The number of Hispanic Americans continues to grow and they consume more salsa than the average American most likely
There are a number of supply side factors that could be relevant but I don't think they had a major impact.
1. price of tomatoes - lower prices would lead to an increase in supply for both ketchup and salsa since they are both made with tomatoes, but that doesn't help explain why the consumption of sales rose more than for ketchup
2. price of corn - the price of corn has increase dramatically recently, but corn is a key ingredient in almost everything Americas eat. Corn syrup is the main ingredient in ketchup (I think), beef, a complement for both salsa and ketchup, is mostly feed corn, and of course tortilla and chips are strong complements of sales and are made with corn. So corn prices would tend to reduce consumption of both goods.
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