Frozen food comes in from the cold

SALES of frozen food – and by implication frozen fish – are growing at a faster rate than most other commodities, the latest figures show.
The highly respected Kantar Worldpanel statistics for the 52-week period ending 22 June 2014 reveal that the value of frozen food is increasing significantly despite pressure on household incomes, which has seen some of Britain’s major retailers struggling.
Innovation seems to be a factor in frozen food. Companies such as Young’s Seafood, Birds Eye and Findus have brought out new attractive and easy to cook seafood ranges over the past year.
However, the figures show that ice cream is heading the frozen food pack by a big margin. Interestingly, the figures come in a week when there is renewed speculation about Findus, owners of Young’s Seafood.
One City analyst said private equity-owned Findus might be ready to sell one of its brands in order to generate some cash. Young’s was suggested and it was also noted that the frozen food sector was very strong at the moment.
Meanwhile, commenting on the Kantar figures Brian Young, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, said the retail frozen food market has now enjoyed year-on-year value growth for the last 14 quarters.
This was particularly impressive when you compare it with the food retail market in general. There were also real signs of life in food service.
The Kantar Worldpanel figures noted that frozen potato products, like chips and frozen savoury foods, were performing well with a year-on-year growth in value of 5.6 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.