Overall frozen food and frozen seafood sales have continued to grow more than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, new data shows.
Over the last 52 weeks ending late May 2021, frozen food sales are up 9.2 percent versus the same period a year ago, and are 22.6 percent higher than May 2019, according to the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and research firm IRI Worldwide.
In every month this year, frozen food gains have consistently been above 20 percent versus 2019, with matching unit and volume gains, AFFI said in a press release.
Frozen foods proved to be a pandemic powerhouse ringing up USD 65.1 billion (EUR 55 billion) in retail sales in 2020.
“One of the biggest questions coming out of 2020 was: Could frozen sustain these gains? All signs point to yes,” AFFI said.
The outlook continues to look bright for frozen seafood as well. While overall frozen seafood sales dropped 8.2 percent to USD 547 million (EUR 464 million) for the four weeks ending June 13 compared to 2020, according to IRI Worldwide and 210 Analytics sales soared 42.9 percent compared to 2019.
Raw shrimp realized the biggest sales gain in frozen seafood for the month ending 13 June, spiking 58.4 percent versus 2019 to USD 170.3 million (EUR 144 million).
“Frozen seafood demand appears to be here to stay when compared to the 2019 pre-pandemic normal, even if it can’t match the enormous 2020 sales spikes every month,” 210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink told SeafoodSource. “Over the past 16 months, frozen seafood has become part of the routine for many more Americans and that’s an encouraging sign for future sales.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, 30 percent of Americans expanded their freezer capacity by adding a second fridge/freezer combination or a stand-alone freezer, according to AFFI.
And shoppers have maintained high trip frequency to the frozen food department, according to Roerink.
“During 2020, consumers started going down the frozen food aisle much more often, in addition to people buying more frozen food per trip and more people engaging with frozen foods,” she said.
In the four weeks ending 27 June, frozen foods consistently matched last year’s high trip frequency and exceeded it during the last week of the month, Roerink added.
“This is a very encouraging sign for continued high frozen food demand, particularly as the average basket size is holding right around last year’s levels as well, indexing at 98-100 the four June weeks,” she said.
Graph courtesy of IRI/210 Analytics
