The total volume of seafood consumed on Christmas in the UK is decreasing
Last Christmas menus in the UK looked a little more scarce as the inflation drove fish&seafood prices up limiting the consumption of some expensive products. UK consumers spend a total amount of 171.4 million pounds ($236.2 million/ 192.3 million euros) on seafood on the last two weeks of 2017, an increase of 4.4% on year-on-year basis, as reported by Seafood Source.
Still, the volume of sales went down by 3% to 14,870 MT, according to an analysis made by Seafish. Salmon and both warm water and cold water shrimp were among the nation’s favourite seafood products over Christmas and accounted for 47 percent of the total seafood sales value during the final two weeks of the year, show the report.
Meantime, a large number of consumers were tempted by cheaper products as pangasius, squid, and cod with sales values for those jumping on year-to-year by 29.8 %, 17.5 %, and 12.6 %, respectively.
Frozen was the only sector to see an increase in sales volume (1%), sales value (4.6 %) and unit sales (3.7 %) compared to the 2016 festive period. Sales of fresh seafood were up 4.2% year-on-year at 114.9 million pounds ($158.3 million/ 128.9 million euros), compared with 110.2 million pounds ($151.8 million/ 123.7 million euros) in 2016.
"It’s unsurprising that frozen has continued to see growth again this year. The sector has seen lower inflation than fresh and ambient and ranges are becoming more diverse. In December, retailers upped their standard frozen offering with convenient party ranges for special occasions, such as prawn rings, lobster thermidor, and crab gratin", said Julia Brooks, market insight analyst at Seafish.
Fresh breaded and fresh battered seafood were the only segments to see a lift in both sales volume and value when compared to both the fortnight preceding Christmas and previous year.
Reflecting the previous year’s trend, Christmas 2017 saw premium seafood products remain top of festive menus. Consumers purchased 138.3% more lobster in comparison with the previous fortnight, the most significant species increase in volume sales during Christmas period, with fresh lobster seeing an increase of 224.7%. Scallops saw an increase in volume of 112.7%.
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