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Below is a brief excerpt from a complimentary research note written by our Consumables analysts Howard Penney and Daniel Biolsi. We are pleased to announce our new Sector Pro Product Consumables Pro. Click HERE to learn more. |
Frozen food sales grew 17.4% in November YOY, according to IRI. The frozen food category outpaced the broader all food category, which grew 9.3% in the month.
In comparison, fresh food grew by 7.8% in the month. 7% of consumers who previously rarely or never purchased frozen food pre-pandemic were purchasing the category during the pandemic, according to a survey from the American Frozen Food Institute.
Retaining the new entrants to the category will be important for the brands. Before the pandemic, the most frequently purchased frozen foods were meat, snacks, and beverages. In November, frozen meat excluding poultry and seafood volumes (both were up more than 27%) were down 10%.
Sales of frozen fruits and vegetables were up 15.6%, outpacing the 8.2% for the fresh varieties. Fresh produce sales still represent 76% of all retail fruit and vegetable sales while frozen represented 8.5% in November.
Fresh vegetable sales are a good indicator of at-home meal consumption, which has remained relatively stable for the past four months, as seen in the chart below.
Conagra’s Refrigerated & Frozen division is slightly greater than 40% of total sales. Nomad Foods revenues are entirely from frozen food sales in Europe.
