U.K. shoppers spent close to GBP 3 billion (USD 3.7 billion, EUR 3.5 billion) on seafood last year with chilled fish taking market share away from meat and poultry, and within the chilled category, salmon sales have grown to a 35.8 percent market share, finds a new report.
According to trade magazine The Grocer, salmon has now toppled tuna as the biggest seller in the fresh category. It highlighted that while cod’s popularity has grown in the frozen fish category, salmon was the runaway winner on the chilled counter – outselling cod, shrimp and haddock combined.
Salmon's leap is driven by and helping to drive the growing demand for chilled fish, as health-conscious shoppers, with sales up another 3.2 percent to GBP 1.7 billion (USD 2.1 billion, EUR 2 billion) last year, said the report. Much of this growth is coming from the salmon-dominated natural, value-added and smoked sectors, which were up 3.8 percent, 2.9 percent and 1 percent respectively.
The report also said that despite its relatively expensive price point compared with other proteins, fish has been a big success story of recent years.
