Swedish frozen food consumption up 6% in 2000 - Brief Article

Eurofood, April 26, 2001

Swedish consumption of frozen food products continued to outpace overall increase in food consumption in 2000 and rose by 6% in volume to 394 300 tonnes, or 44.6 kilo's per person, figures from the industry research group Djupfrysningsbyran showed.

Industry analysts said the market had shown great strength, increasing its market position despite stiffer competition from chilled pre-made courses and takeaways. Quality improvements and relatively steady prices had helped sales also, they added.

Frozen food products last year accounted for 10% of the total food consumption, giving the sector a retail market value of Skr16bn (1.7bn [European Dollar]) and the category has an unbroken growth trend for the last 25 years. Consumption in the catering sector had showed less growth, while a new category group, bake-off products, that came in 1993, is still small but growing.

Frozen ready-made courses is the largest seller in the retail sector, accounting for 25% of all frozen food sales. French fries is still the largest single product on the market, with 23 680t, of which much go to the catering sector, were sold last year. Frozen chicken parts, however, were the fastest growing product category last year, the Djupfrysningsbyran's figures showed.