Despite the continued hard times, German consumption of frozen products was up once again in 2012, albeit only slightly. Statistics from the Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut (dti) show that per capita usage was 41.0 kilograms, compared to 40.9 in 2011. There was a very slight decline in consumption per household, 83.6 kilograms from 83.8, because, dti says, of a 200,000 increase in the number of households.
Sales volume was also up slightly in the whole frozen food market (retail plus food service), with a 0.2% increase from 3.31 to 3.32 million tons. The value of it all exceeded 12 billion euros for the first time, going from 11.781 billion euros to 12.017 billion.
Foodservice volume, which had grown encouragingly in 2011, showed a slight, 0.7%, decline; 1.56 million tons from 2011’s 1.57 million. The dti attributes this to a shift from traditional restaurants to fast food establishments, resulting in more demand for baked goods, snacks, ready meals and pizza and less for fish, meat and vegetables. Despite the decline in volume, there was a 1.2% increase in the value of food service sales because of higher prices; 4.916 billion euros to 4.977 billion.
In retail sales, frozen food was one of the few product groups to show sales increases in both categories. In volume they were up 1.0% (from 1.740 to 1.757 million tons) and in value up 2.5%, from 6.865 to 7.040 billion euros.
The higher prices, amounting to 2.5%, were partly due to increased raw material costs, the dti says, but they resulted mainly from a trend to higher value products that required a more labor-intensive manufacturing processes. The customers, it says, increasingly value convenience in meal preparation, and are turning to such products as ready meals and snacks.
All isn’t good in the German market, though. The Iconkids market research organization reports that frozen food is “out” among many young people. “It’s vital to improve the image,” said dti Chairman Udo Perenz at an industry gathering in Munich.
It’s not the taste, said Iconkids chief, Ingo Barlovic, but the fact that the younger people no longer find frozen food “socially acceptable.” One respondent was quoted as saying “when I buy frozen food I have the feeling that the people at the checkout counter stare at me and judge me because of it.”Another said: “Frozen food doesn’t go at all when I’m cooking with friends. It spoils the flair of doing one’s own cooking.”
It’s true that young people don’t do their own cooking as often as they used to, said Barlovic, but when they do they want to do it right. Now and then a pizza from the deep freeze is OK, but other food has to be fresh. Producers should advertise to young people with the aim of improving the image of quick frozen products. “Many believe that vegetables from the supermarket are fresher than those from the deep freeze,” said the dti’s Sabine Eichner. “But with shock frosting the vegetables right after harvest, the opposite is often the case.”
Meanwhile, the dti has announced an exclusive partnership with Cologne’s Anuga, advising and supporting the exhibitors at two of the ten food fairs that make up the event: Anuga Frozen Food and Anuga FoodService. The dti will have its own stand at the fair and will partner with several other groups in sponsoring the branch highlight, the Frozen Food get-together, October 7. Some 450 exhibitors from the frozen food and ice cream industries of 50 countries will be represented at the fair, which runs October 5-9.
