Markets: Frozen Foods - France

In France, consumption of frozen foods is definitely on the rise: in 2005, the French spent 5.4 billion € on retailed frozen foods, 1 billion € of which was on ice cream. Between 2002 and 2005 ice-cream consumption rose by 10.4% despite relative decrease since the 2003 heat wave. Other frozen foods have steadily increased up to 5.0% during the period which amounts to overall consumption growth of 6.2%. Distribution is relatively stable: half goes through supermarkets or medium-sized stores, discount stores account for 12.1%, showing a slight increase since 2002 (10.7%). One notable exception concerns the rise of freezer centres which drain 17.3% of the market, as compared to 15.1% in 2002. Picard, French leader in the sector, has extended its sales by 33% since then, thus gaining 3.2% in the frozen-foods market in 3 years. Picard now has a 16.4% share of the market.