In 2022, Germans ate more frozen food than ever before, as shown by the current sales statistics of the Deutsches Frozen Institute e. V. (dti), which reports annual sales of frozen products in Germany as a whole and broken down into the food retail/home services (LEH) and out-of-home markets (AHM) sales markets.
According to dti, the per capita consumption rose to 47.7 kg in 2022 (2021: 46.1 kg), while consumption per household grew by 4.1 kg to 96.4 kg in 2022 (2021: 92.3 kg). Total sales of frozen food increased by 3.6% to 3.909 million tons in 2022 (2021: 3.773 million tons), significantly exceeding the previous best result of 2019 by 2%.
“In 2022, frozen food comes back stronger from the past years of crisis. The overall frozen food market recorded a strong plus and reported new records,” summarizes Sabine Eichner, dti managing director.
At 1.974 million tons, frozen food sales in food retail in 2022 were more than 6% higher than in 2019 (1.861 million tons). This can be taken as an indication that new customers could have been won during the pandemic or that consumers intensified their purchases of frozen food. Compared to 2021, sales in the food retail trade show a decline of 5.5% (2021: 2.089 million tons), but this is clearly due to the normalization of everyday life after the COVID-19 restrictions expired in the spring of 2022. People are eating more away from home again – at work and training places and in restaurants. “In 2022, people in Germany returned to their usual eating and cooking habits. The trend towards time-saving meal solutions with frozen products such as pizza and snacks is also clearly visible. Overall, frozen food was able to establish itself even more firmly as a future category,” Sabine Eichner added.
The out-of-home market experienced a significant growth spurt in 2022; however, sales in the hospitality industry were still well below the pre-pandemic levels. Frozen sales increased by 14.9% to 1.935 million tons (2021: 1.684 million tons, 2019: 1.973 million tons). The previous record from 2019 has almost been reached again. In particular, “breakfast & dessert” and “fix & ready” segments recorded enormous growth of 20.6 and 20.2%, respectively. The frozen product groups of baked goods, pizza, and snacks are particularly noteworthy with high double-digit growth rates. “We are observing a trend towards frozen food in the out-of-home market, because the products can optimally meet the high demands of the catering trade in combination with certainty of calculation and success,” says dti managing director Eichner. “Professional kitchens always know the advantages of frozen food and appreciate it more: natural freshness, excellent quality, all-season reliability, long shelf life, practical portioning, and storage and high cost-effectiveness.”
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