Nuts in
France-Market Report
HEADLINES
- Sales of nuts record positive growth of 1% in 2010 to
reach 94,000 tonnes
- Elaborate recipes for salads enable nuts to perform
well in 2010 thanks to changes in consumption patterns with a mix of
different ingredients
- Pistachio sees the fastest growth of 4% to reach 2,500 tonnes
thanks to its popularisation as an accompaniment when drinking an aperitif
- Sales of nuts are expected to grow at a CAGR of almost
2% over the forecast period
TRENDS
- 2010 was a good year for nuts. The uncertain economic
climate led the French to be more careful in terms of spending, hence
having more social gatherings at home. As a result, nuts took the
opportunity to take off over the review period thanks to being used for
healthy snacking with an aperitif. Moreover, health benefits were
beneficial for the consumption of nuts, helping guarantee positive growth
in 2010.
- In the context of the review period, 2010 was in line
with previous growth. The French favoured home-made meals such as salads
at the expense of foodservice for financial reasons, enabling nuts to be
part of a meal. Elaborate recipes and healthy eating patterns also helped
trigger sales of nuts in 2010.
- Walnuts performed well in 2010. Such an upward trend
can continue to be explained by the direct impact of local production and
seasonal consumption as well as good distribution through grocery
retailers such as hypermarkets/supermarkets. As a result, walnuts have
been well known in France for many years, and do not need to be heavily
promoted, unlike other types of nut. Walnuts posted positive growth of 2%
in 2010.
- “Other nuts” recorded positive but slower growth in
2010. The small increase continued to be due to a lack of knowledge about
such products, for example macadamia nuts, among consumers due to
restricted imports and distribution through grocery retailers.
Furthermore, seasonal consumption did not help grow sales of “other nuts”,
hence the moderate positive growth.
- Sales of organic nuts are essentially boosted by
imports. Local production in France remained practically non-existent. As
a result, sales of organic nuts were quite low in France as local
production was favoured in terms of practical choices in purchasing
patterns due to lower retail prices.
PROSPECTS
- Sales of nuts are expected to grow at a CAGR of almost
2% over the forecast period. Consumers should be more and more aware of
health benefits, and social gatherings should carry on taking place at
home. Nuts should therefore account for one of the main products to offer
to its guests, hence the predicted positive growth over the forecast
period.
- Growth will continue to be registered at levels similar
to that of the review period. Growth will be strengthened by consumers'
willingness to improve and diversify their diet by being more demanding of
products with health benefits. As a result, nuts should see growth in
terms of volume, boosted by health concerns.
- Sales of fresh nuts could see their growth restricted
due to the introduction of elaborate products such as processed nuts.
Demand for convenience could therefore hamper the positive growth in fresh
nuts as consumers could tend to purchase packaged and ready-to-eat nuts
for snacking.
