From 2019 to 2020, the market for fresh vegetables has increased by 1% in volume, while for fresh fruit there was a decrease of 1%. Fresh berries had the largest decline of as much as 21%. In total, this represents a decrease in the entire category of 1% in volume in 2020 compared with the previous year.
"There is an increase in Norwegian-produced vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and cucumbers at the expense of imports. This is probably related to the fact that many consumers now value Norwegian goods extra highly," says Tore Angelsen of OFG.
Value growth in the grocery trade up by almost 3 MRD
There is an increase in the value of fresh fruit, berries, vegetables and potatoes of 14.6% in Norwegian grocery stores from 2019 to 2020.
The largest growth was in fresh vegetables, which increased by 17.3%, while potatoes and fresh fruit grew by 13.7% and 13.3%, respectively. The growth has been lowest on fresh berries, but here too a value growth of 4.7% can be seen.
The value growth in the category has been somewhat lower than the growth in groceries as a whole, which has increased by as much as 17.3%. The share of fruit and vegetables has therefore fallen somewhat from 11.3% in 2019 to 11% in 2020.
Overall, one must see the large increase in value in groceries in connection with a large decline in sales to catering customers such as canteens, hotels and restaurants.
Large increase in value of tomatoes and apples - decline in strawberries
One consequence of the pandemic is that more people prefer wrapped goods to lose ones. A study with tomatoes has shown that in March 2020, there was a clear increase in sales of tomatoes that are wrapped compared to loose.
Sales of strawberries had a significant decline in 2020 of 4,500 tonnes. This applies to both Norwegian and imported. The decrease was 2,390 tonnes for Norwegian strawberries and 2,112 tonnes for imported.
Changes in trading patterns as a consequence of the pandemic
According to players in the grocery industry, the trading frequency decreased after the first wave of the pandemic. More people than usual limited the number of days they visited a store, and the result of this was an increase in sales of vegetables and a decrease in sales of typical impulse goods with short shelf life such as berries and fruit.
According to new surveys from Nielsen, this has changed throughout the year, so in November 2020 the shopping pattern was almost back to normal, i.e., with frequent visits to stores.
Many have shopped online. In total, online shopping now occupies approx. 2% of the Norwegian grocery market, while the corresponding figure from southern Europe is 16%.
Source: https://frukt.no/
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