The German frozen foods market showed further growth in 2009. The total amount of frozen food sold was circa 3.22 million tons, up 0.7 percent over the previous year’s results (3.20 million tons). This means that total sales of 11.275 billion euros rose 1.0 percent over those in 2008.
The frozen foods business thus confirmed its market stability and great significance for the food industry – despite difficult economic conditions. The consumer popularity of frozen products remained constant; average per-person consumption grew by 300 g to 39.3 kg, or 0.8 percent. The overall development of frozen foods in the food industry is exceptionally stable. At 1.74 million tons, the food industry (including home delivery companies and discounters) achieved a sales plus of 0.7 percent. In terms of value, branch sales increased 1.2 percent to 6.738 billion euros. There were only slight fluctuations of individual product groups. Frozen fish and frozen vegetables showed slight sales drops last year. In contrast, sales of frozen baked goods and snacks grew slightly. Frozen pizza and convenience foods were at the top of the popularity scale. Of these, frozen convenience foods were number one.
There is a new trend to cooking in the comfort of one’s own home – people are going to restaurants less. The result of this was that convenience foods were clearly preferred due to their simple use and diverse manners they could be used. In addition, frozen food has increasingly profiled itself as fresh.
