Europe is one the largest markets for frozen food products, and retail channel holds its place as a main selling point for manufacturers. While traditional categories such as frozen fruit and vegetables or frozen processed meat have a significant share of the market, plant-based products and generally alternative proteins products are rising high and fast.
Data from Statista shows that frozen food sales in Europe totalled USD74.53bn, while frozen desserts gathered USD17.6bn. Germany has the largest frozen food sector at USD13.85bn, followed closely by the United Kingdom at USD12.3bn. Sales in France reached USD9.3bn, while the value stood at USD4.64bn in Spain. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland had a combined sales value of cca USD5.3bn. The rest of Europe accounted for USD19.39bn in frozen food sales.
A telling image is that seen in the British market, where frozen food sales remained high despite consumers returning to pre-pandemic shopping habits – that is according to the latest 52-week Kantar data (to September 5) from the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF). The figures show that frozen sales are nearly GBP900m higher than the 52 weeks ended June 2019, with an additional 217 tonnes of volume since the pre-pandemic period. However, with the reopening of hospitality and shoppers reverting to smaller basket sizes and more frequent shopping trips, frozen sales have declined, a trend reflected across the whole of the grocery market. Over the 12-weeks ended 5 September total grocery sales were down 2.7%, fresh and chilled sales were down 1.2% and frozen fell by 3.6%. Across the nine frozen categories monitored seven remain in value and volume growth with meat and poultry and frozen vegetables seeing small value declines.
Since 2019 the frozen category has seen value growth of +14.2% and volume growth of +10.4%. When compared to 2019 value growth of frozen is ahead of both total grocery (+13.1%) and fresh and chilled (+12.4%) so the outlook remains positive. Frozen has always been recognized as a great value option, but value is now combined with innovation as companies work to develop high-quality frozen free-from products, sustainable packaging solutions and plant-based meals, the BFFF states.
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