The latest retail statistics have shown that frozen food continues to excel, with value growth across almost every category in the 52 weeks to September 9, 2018.
The latest statistics, provided by Kantar Worldpanel, value the retail frozen food market as a whole at over £6.2bn having seen 4.8% value growth year-on-year (yoy). Since hitting the £6bn value mark in October 2017, the market continued to see consistent growth in both value and volume in each quarter.
The summer heatwave continued to provide a boost for the market. Spanning the World Cup kick-off in June through to the August bank holiday and beyond, the figures show consumers spent £74m more on ice cream. Unsurprisingly, the Ice Cream category has driven growth this quarter with an increase in value of 13.2% (yoy). Branded sales of some of the summer favourites such as frozen desserts, combined to produce around £25m of extra sales compared with last year.
Following right behind is the Pizza category, which has seen a steady increase in value of over £30m (yoy). These two categories also saw a combined 12.7% volume growth respectively (yoy), and now represent 24.7% of the value of the total frozen food retail market.
Another category performing well is Savoury Food, which includes frozen bread, savoury bakery and other frozen foods. The category saw a 5.7% value and 0.6 % volume growth (yoy).
John Hyman, Chief Executive of British Frozen Food Federation, said: “This quarter’s results are particularly encouraging with almost across the board value growth and exceptional volume growth in many categories.
“What we’re seeing is testament to the fact that frozen food, the entire range of available, is ideally placed to tap into the trends underpinning consumer eating habits during the warm seasons. Consumers are still buying traditional summer products like ice cream, but NPD is driving them to incorporate more savoury products and ingredients into their daily diets, which is good news for the frozen food industry.”
