The total value and volume of shrimp sold in U.K. supermarkets has continued to grow over the past 12 months with only salmon eclipsing the combined sales of warmwater and coldwater shrimp.
According to the latest HomeScan data supplied by the U.K. Seafish Authority, total shrimp sales for the 52 weeks ending 25 February 2017 amounted to GBP 441.7 million (USD 548.1 million, EUR 517.5 million), representing an increase of 4.9 percent year-on-year. The total volume bought during this period increased 4.8 percent to 32,184 metric tons (MT). By comparison, the retail channel’s salmon sales amounted to GBP 876.2 million (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 1 billion), based on a volume of 57,364 MT, with both totals up by just 0.1 percent.
Chilled shrimp dominated sales with a total value of GBP 315.3 million (USD 391.3 million, EUR 369.4 million), based on a volume of 21,132 MT, representing increases of 6.1 percent and 6.5 percent respectively. The number of unit sales during this period increased by 6.8 percent to 104.8 million.
Total frozen shrimp sales amounted to GBP 126.3 million (USD 156.7 million, EUR 148 million) with a volume of 11,038 MT, up 2.1 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Ambient sales, meanwhile, achieved a value of just GBP 94,000 (USD 116,669, EUR 110,145) based on a volume of 14 MT, down 3.7 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.
The average price paid per kg during the 52-week period was GBP 14.92 (USD 18.52, EUR 17.48) for chilled shrimp, GBP 11.44 (USD 14.20, EUR 13.41) for frozen and GBP 6.84 (USD 8.49, EUR 8.02) for ambient shrimp.
In terms of the coldwater/warmwater split, the total value of coldwater shrimp sales decreased by 1.6 percent to GBP 176.5 million (USD 219.1 million, EUR 206.8 million), while the volume sold declined by 5.8 percent to 13,641 MT. At the same time, warmwater shrimp sales increased 9.8 percent in value and 14.3 percent in volume to GBP 265.2 million (USD 329.2 million, EUR 310.8 million) and 18,543 MT. As a result of volume fluctuations, the average retail price of coldwater shrimp in the 52 weeks increased by 4.4 percent to GBP 12.94 (USD 16.06, EUR 15.16) per kg, while the average price paid for warmwater shrimp decreased 4 percent to GBP 14.30 (USD 17.75, EUR 16.76) per kg.
According to Seafish, total sales of seafood in retail for in-home consumption exceeded GBP 3.1 billion (USD 3.8 billion, EUR 3.6 billion) in the 52-week period, an increase of 0.9 percent. In volume terms, these sales equated to 327,958 MT of products – down 0.4 percent year-on-year.
