Beef bounces back
The latest Meat, Fish and Poultry (MFP) figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 16th August 2015 have seen Beef & Fish avoiding deflation, with smaller areas, driven by Duck posting strong growth. The promised August heatwave has given way to intermittent showers and flash flooding in the South, with the barbeque season appearing to be drawing to an end. Barbeque consumption is down 8% annually and Sausages, Burgers & Grills are all seeing value sales fall back. Nathan Ward, Business Unit Director for Meat, Fish & Poultry explains “There is much more to a barbeque than Burgers & Sausages, with Chicken present in over 40% of Barbeque occasions”. Despite the Summer slump, National Burger Day could help stimulate sales in the next update, contributing to the positive annual picture for Burgers.
Deflation is still having a huge effect on Fresh Meat and Poultry, with Chicken seeing strong deflation with prices down 5% driven by the Whole Birds and Breast sectors. Fresh Chicken is seeing lower promotional levels, with the move from Multibuys to TPRs driving deeper discounts. Lamb & Pork continue to struggle in value and volume terms with Roasting and Frying & Grilling key areas of decline in both. Beef is continuing to see trading up as value increase ahead of volume with shoppers buying Beef more often over the last 12 weeks. Beef value growth is driven by the more premium products of Steaks and Marinades, with Frying & Grilling an area of strength for Beef. Strong growth is coming from Veal, Venison, mixed protein mince and a resurgent Duck sector . Duck has seen shopper numbers rise by 37% compared to last year and rising prices helping to drive value ahead of volume.
Chilled Fish growth continues although Natural Fish and Shellfish sales have gone into decline. Chilled Fish shoppers continue to buy more often with consumers eating Fish on more occasions. Added Value Fish continues to drive the growth of Chilled Fish with Prawn and Haddock dishes key to the growth. Almost ½ a million more shoppers are buying this convenient area of Fish, with the average added value shopper buying once a month over this three month period. The decline of Natural Fish is being driven by Cod & Haddock which are seeing double digit decline as promotional levels drop.
The next data release will be out in 4 weeks time, will Beef & Fish continue to beat the deflation in the market?
