The volume, value, and number of seafood products sold by U.K. grocery chains has fallen over the past year despite a slight reduction in the prices charged by retailers, according to the latest Nielsen ScanTrack data supplied by the U.K. Seafish Authority.
U.K. shoppers bought GBP 3.25 billion (USD 3.9 billion, EUR 3.5 billion) worth of seafood in the 12 months through 13 July 2019, which represented a decrease of 1 percent year-on-year. The volume of products sold fell 1.3 percent to 309,681 metric tons (MT), while the number of units sold declined by 0.4 percent to 1.15 billion.
Over the course of the 52 weeks, the average price paid for all seafood items was GBP 2.83 (USD 3.42, EUR 3.06) per unit, representing a decrease of 0.5 percent. The average price per kilogram increased very slightly percent to GBP 10.51 (USD 12.70, EUR 11.36).
According to Seafish’s retail sales figures, chilled seafood, which accounts for 64 percent of total purchases, experienced a 1.4 percent drop in sales value, falling below GBP 2.1 billion (USD 2.5 billion, EUR 2.3 billion). The volume of chilled sales decreased by 0.3 percent to 150,141 MT, while the number of units sold climbed 0.3 percent to 617 million. The average price paid across the category was GBP 13.88 (USD 16.77, EUR 15) per kg and GBP 3.38 (USD 4.09, EUR 3.65) per unit, down by 1.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
With regards to the other main product categories, the value of the frozen seafood sales fell slightly to GBP 734.6 million (USD 887.9 million, EUR 793.9 million), and ambient seafood remained unchanged at GBP 436 million (USD 526.9 million, EUR 471.2 million).
The volume sold in frozen fell by 2.7 percent to 99,744 MT and the number of units purchased declined by 1.3 percent to less than 280 million, while the ambient volume slipped by 1.6 percent to 59,796 MT and the number of units sold decreased by 1.4 percent to 252.5 million.
Average frozen seafood prices for the 12 months increased by 2.5 percent to GBP 7.36 (USD 8.89, EUR 7.95) per kg, and by 0.9 percent to GBP 2.62 (USD 3.17, EUR 2.83) per unit. Ambient seafood prices increased by 1.6 percent per kg to GBP 7.29 (USD 8.81, EUR 7.88) and 1.4 percent to GBP 1.73 (USD 2.09, EUR 1.87) per unit.
Frozen and ambient sales accounted for 22.6 percent and 13.4 percent of the U.K. retail market value, respectively.
In terms of the species sold across all categories, the U.K. retail market is led by salmon with sales approaching GBP 922.3 million (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 996.5 million) for the 12-month period, down 0.8 percent year-on-year. In volume terms, sales increased by 1.7 percent to 52,903 MT, and unit sales were 0.8 percent higher at 229.6 million.
Cod and tuna followed with sales values of GBP 409.7 million (USD 495.1 million, EUR 442.7 million) and GBP 330.3 million (USD 399.2 million, EUR 356.9 million), respectively.
In terms of retail prices, salmon was down by 2.4 percent to GBP 17.43 (USD 21.07, EUR 18.84) per kg, while cod was up 3.4 percent to GBP 8.91 (USD 10.77, EUR 9.63) and tuna increased by 1.6 percent to GBP 7.37 (USD 8.91, EUR 7.96).
The most growth was seen by pollock in eighth place, with consumers buying 28,285 MT of the fish (up 11.6 percent) or 76.3 million units (up 15.4 percent), generating a total sales value of GBP 135.7 million (USD 164 million, EUR 146.7 million), which was 17.3 percent more than in the previous 12 months.
With 22.2 percent of the total sales value, Tesco continued to be the country’s leading seafood retailer, followed by Sainsbury’s with 14.4 percent and discounter Aldi with 10.8 percent. Aldi, Asda, Waitrose, and Lidl were the only chains in the top 12 to grow market share over the year.
Image courtesy of Bob Deering/Shutterstock
