The value and volume of warmwater shrimp products sold in U.K. retail for at-home consumption continued to follow the strong increasing sales trend seen last year throughout the first-half of 2017, outstripping the performance of the overall seafood market.
According to the latest Nielsen ScanTrack data supplied by the U.K. Seafish Authority, total shrimp sales increased in volume and value to 32,221 metric tons (MT) and GBP 445.6 million (USD 574.4 million, EUR 488.6 million) for the 52 weeks ending 15 July 2017, representing increases of 3.6 percent and 3.9 percent respectively. By comparison, total seafood sales in U.K. retail increased 3 percent in value to GBP 3.2 billion (USD 4.1 billion, EUR 3.5 billion) during the same period, but the volume sold decreased by 1.1 percent to 324,527 MT.
With sales of coldwater shrimp for the 12-month period down 4.8 percent in volume to 13,416 MT and the value declining 1.2 percent to GBP 175.8 million (USD 226.7 million, EUR 192.8 million), the growth of the shrimp retail category was solely down to the accomplishments of warmwater shrimp products.
Seafish’s figures find that the volume of warmwater shrimp sold in U.K. retail climbed 10.4 percent to 18,806 MT, while the value increased 7.5 percent to GBP 269.8 million (USD 347.9 million, EUR 295.9 million) and the number of product units sold rose 9 percent year-on-year to 83.9 million. This performance was supported by a 2.6 percent decrease in the average price – to GBP 14.34 (USD 18.49, EUR 15.73) per kg.
The average price paid for coldwater shrimp, meanwhile, increased by 3.8 percent to GBP 13.11 (USD 16.91, EUR 14.38) per kg.
More than GBP 317.9 million (USD 410 million, EUR 348.7 million) worth of shrimp (warmwater and coldwater varieties combined) were sold in the chilled retail category during the 12-month period, with frozen sales amounting to GBP 127.6 million (USD 164.6 million, EUR 139.9 million), and ambient totaling just GBP 83,000 (USD 107,039, EUR 91,096).
