Overall U.S. retail seafood inflation dropped in the first quarter of 2023, which benefitted all sectors of the industry but frozen sales, according to new data shared at Elanco’s “Seafood in U.S. Retail” webinar on 2 May.
Total food and beverage inflation spiked 11.3 percent in the first quarter of this year compared versus the first quarter of 2022, but frozen seafood prices rose only 3.9 percent, fresh seafood prices were up 2.2 percent, and shelf-stable prices rose 3.7 percent, 210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink said during the webinar, citing data from research firm Circana.
Those increases were much lower than the price hikes seen throughout 2022, according to Roerink. Still, the price hikes contributed to a 3.2 percent drop in frozen seafood sales to USD 1.86 billion (EUR 1.7 billion)…