Cecilia Ruiz, Manager Spain and Portugal, Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board
According to the Spanish Department of Ag, the Ready Meal sector in Spain is in constant growth, mainly driven by innovation and new formats, packaging and presentations: The Dept. of Agriculture estimates a market size of 618k tonnes with an annual growth of 5.4% in 2018. Frozen ready meals remain the category leader accounting for an incredible 68% of total sales, with a consumption of 2.5kg per capita and an expenditure of €12.4 per person/year, while chilled ready meals account for 8% of volume sales and ambient has 24%.
Interestingly, sales of ready meals increase by 6.8% in Spain during the summer months of June, July and August. The convenience and variety of prepared meals are two of the main reasons why consumption increases during this period.
In terms of channels, supermarkets sell 75% of total frozen ready meals, followed by hypermarkets with 15%, specialised outlets with 3.5% and other formats with 5.6%.
Innovation is clearly focused on healthy superfoods: recent launches include vegetable meatballs made with 38% quinoa, 30% soy, 8% carrot and 8% onion (Audens Foods), or sautéed cous cous with quinoa and broccoli, quinoa with kale and lentils and rice with bulgur and chicken (launched by Maheso). “Food for Tomorrow” has launched “heura“, a new vegetarian food with a soy base and a similar texture to chicken. Vegetarian and vegan burgers and nuggets, as well as vegetarian Mexican tacos and spring rolls are some other examples of this trend.
The category however remains dominated by frozen pizzas which hold 30% of total retail frozen ready meals sales, followed by croquettes (11%), lasagne/cannelloni (10.9%), breaded meats (9.9%) and remaining sales are usually rice, fish, and/or ethnic ready meal dishes.
This hesitancy to branch outside of these products within the category is reflected by Mercadona’s (Spanish retail market leader with 23% market share) newly launched range of “Ready to Eat” food-to-go presented at their in-store deli counters. The range is made up of the most traditionally-best sellers in ready meals: pizza, pasta, gazpachos and vegetable soups, Spanish omelettes, salads (€4), roast chicken (€8), paellas and a couple of traditional homemade dishes in addition to ribs, burgers (€2.50) and sandwiches (€3).
Sources:
“La Alimentación en España 2018”, Mercasa
“Soluciones Congeladas” Alimarket, June 2018
Q2 2019 www.fitchsolutions.com Spain Food & Drink Report Includes 5-year forecasts to 2023
Images – Bord Bia Madrid