The growth of the frozen food segment does not stop, which after archiving a record 2020 thanks to homemade stocks during the pandemic, now also closes 2021 with an increase in sales of more than 5%. According to the latest Iias report, domestic purchases have now exceeded 940 thousand tons, for a per capita consumption of 16 kg per year, against 15.2 kg in 2020. Not only the result obtained by retail is decisive in the growth. , which increased by 1.7% in volume, but above all by the segment of out-of-home consumption, restarted with an increase of 19.6% after the sharp drop in 2020 (-37%).
The frozen food market in Italy today is worth between 4.6 and 4.8 billion euros. At the top of the ranking of the most purchased products are vegetables, with those already cooked in particular growing by 12.6%. In second place there are fish products, while in third place there are frozen potatoes (both fried and processed) whose purchase increased by 7.2% for a total of 85,700 tons consumed.
“However, 2022 opened with not a few critical issues – says the president of Iias, Giorgio Donegani – the increase in the costs of raw materials and especially energy, together with the growing supply difficulties caused by extreme climatic events and the considerable problems encountered by logistics and transport on a global level, puts the entire food industry in great difficulty, including the frozen food sector ». For this reason, the companies in the sector are asking the government to intervene: for example, with a price cap on the price of energy, and with the VAT block to relaunch internal consumption.