Meat, fish and poultry (MFP) volumes have remained static in the 12 weeks ending 5th November, compared to last year, with pork remaining the “star performer”, despite inflation hitting all three categories.
Volume sales have increased by 1% in the overall grocery market and the primary MFP categories are “struggling”, with only the processed market growing volume overall, according to the latest data by Kantar Worldpanel covering the period.
Pork enjoyed a boost in both value and volume terms, with prices rising 2.1% and volumes 3%.
Nathan Ward, business unit director, for MFP, explained: “Having spent much of the last few years commenting on the decline of pork it’s great to see its renaissance!
“Pork has seen 290,000 more shoppers than last year, but the real driver of the growth is shoppers engaging with the category more often, picking it up on 2.1 million more trips this year.”
The AHDB Pork Midweek Meal campaign is cited by Ward as one of the reasons for pork’s performance, along with the “comparatively good value of the protein”.
“The big winners for pork are mince, marinated lines and frying/grilling which are all seeing value and volume growth,” he added.
Inflation has remained a “significant force” in the MFP category, driving up the price of red meat; like-for-like grocery inflation stands at 3.4%, recording its highest level since November 2013 and impacting the aforementioned categories with high like-for-like inflation.
Kantar Worldpanel added that the category is expected to experience a “good Christmas” season despite inflationary pressures, with head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt, adding: “The British public is expected to shell out a whopping £28.7 billion at the grocers in the final 12 weeks of 2017.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
