Indigenous outback stores' fruit sales up

Fruit and vegetable sales have gone up slightly in outback stores in indigenous remote communities.

But compared to the sales in mainstream retail outlets there is a lot of catch-up to do to improve nutrition in indigenous communities, Outback Stores chair Stephen Bradley told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Friday.

Sugar consumption is still a concern and there is a diabetes crisis across many indigenous communities.

There were 1.13 million litres of soft drink sales across the network of 36 stores across Australia last year.

Mr Bradley said there was a small increase in sugary drink sales on the previous year but overall there was a reduction in market share.