U.S. grocery stores continued to register more seafood sales in February 2021, part of a broader trend correlated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Led by raw shrimp, frozen seafood continued its double-digit growth in February, rising 36 percent to nearly USD 628 million (EUR 527 million), according to IRI Worldwide data supplied by 210 Analytics.
“This was the highest gain across all [frozen] areas,” 210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink told SeafoodSource. “Frozen seafood has benefited from increased household penetration, increased trips and an increased spend per trip during the pandemic.”
Frozen raw shrimp realized the biggest sales gain, with sales rocketing up 57.4 percent to USD 186.7 million (EUR 157 million).
“Raw shrimp has been the fastest grower ever since the third quarter of 2020,” Roerink said.
Frozen fish/seafood sales rose 29.5 percent to USD 291 million (EUR 244 million), while frozen cooked shrimp was up 27 percent to USD 150 million (EUR 126 million).
Total fresh seafood sales grew 27.2 percent to USD 585.6 million (EUR 492 million). Within fresh seafood, shellfish was the fastest gainer in February, rising 39.8 percent, while finfish sales rose 17.4 percent.
Notably, retailers are investing in a broader fresh seafood assortment, according to Roerink. The average number of items per week per store increased from 53.8 in February 2020 to 55.5 in February 2021.
“The increase is about one extra [SKU] in finfish and one in shellfish. In contrast, assortment in the meat department continues to be down,” Roerink said.
Roerink and other experts have predicted robust seafood sales will continue across the U.S. And U.S. overall retail sales are also expected to grow this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
Overall retail sales in February rose 6.3 percent year-over-year, but dropped 3 percent compared to January, according to new U.S. Census Data. Despite occasional month-over-month declines, retail sales have grown year-over-year every month since June, the National Retail Federation said in a press release.
Forty-seven percent of Americans are eating healthier than before the start of the pandemic and around 50 percent are cooking more at home, according to a recent NCSolutions survey. Those trends and others resulted in a 14 percent hike in American household grocery spending last year, NCSolutions said.
"We expect Americans to sustain their higher interest in CPG products and activities that foster self-care and well-being – both physical and emotional – for some time,” NCSolutions Chief Executive Officer Linda Dupree said in a press release.
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