Chicken remains ‘overriding success story’
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel shows that chicken is the strongest performer of the primary category, whilst beef and lamb continue to suffer.
Chicken remains the overriding success story of the primary category, with both value and volume in growth.
In the 12 weeks to 24th February 2019, with Valentine’s Day in the figures, the meat, fish and poultry (MFP) market continues to see volume grow and fairly flat value sales, with shoppers buying more of the cheaper proteins such as pork and chicken.
Nathan Ward, Business Unit Director, MFP, explains: “Pork and chicken are the leading proteins in the fresh primary world, growing volume ahead of value.
“Pork has seen the traditional cuts of chops and leg roasts decline, but the growth for steaks and shoulder roasting joints driving the protein forward. The pork sector appears to be quite price sensitive with all of the main cuts cheaper, despite inflation in MFP overall.”
The sectors seeing rising prices are said to be those suffering the most. Pork has seen a strong performance driven by shoulder, but chicken also sees growth with whole birds helping to grow sales.
Chicken remains the overriding success story of the primary category, with both value and volume in growth. The engine of this performance is shoppers putting chicken into more baskets, with 2.1m more trips including chicken in the last 12 weeks.
As reported in previous months, breast and legs are the key drivers of growth, driven by stronger promotions which are up 12% in breasts and 17% in legs.
Ward, continues: “Beef and lamb continue to suffer despite the presence of Valentine’s Day, which has been historically a strong period for steaks.
“It hasn’t been as positive for the primary beef and lamb categories this year, with meal solutions performing more strongly over the period. The decline of beef and lamb have been driven by roasting joints and steaks, with the only strong growth in both proteins coming from mince.”
For beef, the decline has driven 2.1m fewer trips compared to last year, with steaks particularly impacting the trend.
Promotions in beef steaks fell 23% and this has impacted the performance.
The decline of the traditional and more premium cuts is said to be stronger in the more traditional households, with mince driving growth for younger families.
“Whilst primary pork is in growth, carcass balance is something that pig meat producers will need to keep an eye on, with bacon seeing a strong decline in both volume and value terms, with 3.7m fewer trips compared to last year.
“Rashers are the key to that decline, with everyday sales falling despite prices in the category falling back.” Ward concludes.
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