It's been a tranquil summer - but with clouds on the horizon. We not talking about the weather, but rather the sales of packaged goods in supermarkets, as monitored by IRI for TUTTOFOOD. Overall, turnover continues to grow, up 6.7% from January to September, for a total of 37,602 mn euro. But average prices stopped growing at 1.6%, suggesting that this growth was largely due to an increase the volume of goods sold.

Many goods categories are showing double digit growth

Since the start of the year, if we leave aside holiday products which are obviously seasonal, only Milk and Fresh Cream have experienced a slight downturn, while all other categories are experiencing robust growth. One should note in particular the double digit growth in Precooked goods (up 18.1% to 182 mn euro), Fresh condiments (15.9% to 283 mn) and Frozen goods up 14.3% to 1,761 mn). Packed meat (+13.8% to 703 mn), Cheese (+12.9% to 2,356 mn) and Sweet spreads (+10.8 to 619 mn) have all registered double digit growth.

Good weather combined with restrictions on dining out

In September, however, the panorama was more turbulent, with a number of categories remaining stagnant. Ice cream benefited from the good weather, up 17% over September 2019, with total sales of 128 mn euro. The month also showed positive results for Precooked goods (+8% over September 2019, 20 mn euro), Packaged meat (+7.5% to 703 mn) and, once more, Frozen goods (+4.1% for a total of 206 mn euro).

The Beverage sector, as reported by the figures for beverage wholesalers up to August, continued to be affected by the restrictions on dining out: the downturn from the start of the year remains considerable (-31.8%) but overall sales are still respectable, at 1,677 mn euro. The good weather in August led to less of a drop off in sales relative to the previous year, just -7%, with total sales of 375 mn euro over the month.