As prices fall, warmwater shrimp claims dominance on UK shelves

Chilled sales also continue to drive growth. 

Growth in the UK shrimp retail market continues, with a 6.4 percent increase in volume and a 5.1 percent increase in value for the 52-week period ending May 20, according to the latest data from market analyst company Nielsen.

Total shrimp retail sales hit £443.3 million (€506.1 million/$564.7 million) during the period, while volumes reached 32,225 metric tons.

Over a two-year period, UK retail shrimp sales are up more than 9.3 percent in value and 6.3 percent in volume.

Sales of chilled shrimp products continue to drive growth in the shrimp sector, with sales of chilled shrimp products up 5.1 percent during the 52-week period to £316.5 million (€361.3 million/$403.2 million). 

The sales of 21,249 metric tons of chilled shrimp -- a 6.4 percent increase over a year ago -- accounted for 66 percent of total shrimp retail sales by volume and a whopping 71 percent by value.

Sales of frozen shrimp items rose 1.7 percent to £126.7 million (€144.7 million/$161.4 million), with volume up just 0.8 percent to 10,962 metric tons.

Growth slows in 'natural' product

In both the chilled and frozen categories, natural shrimp products -- items that have not had anything added or done to them other than that required for basic processing -- still dominate shrimp retail sales, accounting for 54 percent by volume and 65 percent by value the total.

Growth in the sector, however, was minimal in the last year with volumes of fresh and frozen natural shrimp rising just 1.4 percent in volume to 17,491 metric tons and 1.8 percent in value to £283.2 million (€323.3 million/$360.8 million).

While a much smaller fraction of overall sales, much bigger growth is being seen in chilled breaded shrimp, which has seen a 31.9 percent increase in value to £5.6 million (€6.4 million/$7.1 million) and a 15.1 percent increase in volume to 414 metric tons.

This, to some extent has snatched market share from its frozen counterpart, which has seen value drop 10.9 percent to £3.0 million (€3.4 million/$3.8 million) and volumes even further, by 21.2 percent to 244 metric tons.

Good growth is also being seen in shrimp meals, which have seen 23.1 percent and 17.7 percent value growth in chilled and frozen respectively in the last year.

Warmwater price drops give it growing market share

UK consumers continue to shift their preference in the direction of warmwater shrimp. For the 52-week period ending Jan. 28, sales of coldwater shrimp items fell 5.7 percent in volume to 13,407 metric tons worth £174.7 million (€199.5 million/$222.6 million), a 2.5 percent decline.

Meanwhile, sales of warmwater shrimp rose nearly 13 percent in volume to 18,817 metric tons. The value of sales jumped 8.8 percent to £268.6 million (€306.7 million/$342.2 million).

This fall is largely explained by an increase in prices, with coldwater shrimp rising in price in all its formats – chilled, frozen and ambient -- while warmwater fell across the board. 

The price per kilogram of coldwater shrimp rose 3.4 percent during the 52-week period to £13.03 (€14.90/$16.60), while the cost per kilogram of warmwater shrimp decreased 3.7 percent to £14.27 (€16.30/$18.20).

High and low-end retail is shrimp's happy place

The middle ground appears still to be an unhappy place to be as shrimp retailer, with mid-range supermarkets continuing to lose ground to discounters and higher end chains.

While Tesco’s market share of shrimp sales began to stabilize, rising 1 percentage point to 24 percent, Sainsbury’s continued to slide, falling almost two percentage points to settle at 16 percent.

Aldi continued its growth in the market, rising 1.2 percentage points to take 9 percent of the market and at the other end of the scale high-end retailer Marks & Spencer continued its steady growth to take 11.7 percent.

Lidl stayed pretty stable at 6.5 percent of market share.