French surimi woes continue
Headwinds facing the market in recent years showed little sign of abating in 2017.
Surimi producers continue to have their work cut out to turn around the ailing French surimi market, although the rate of decline appears to have slowed since summer last year.
Volumes went down by 2.4 percent to 41,000 metric tons, according to French trade body FranceAgrimer. Market value also slipped, by 1.6 percent to €283 million ($339 million).
The scope of the challenge faced by processors is outlined in data compiled by FranceAgrimer in conjunction market research company Kantar Worldpanel.
"It's still in a bad phase and it's not clear how it will return the market back to growth," FranceAgrimer's Jérome Lafon told IntraFish.
But figures did at least show the rate of decline slowing in recent months after a particularly steep drop in 2016.
Sales even briefly rose in June 2017 as summer temperatures soared to 36 degrees Celsius in the French capital Paris.
But overall, the engine driving the previously seemingly unstoppable sales growth for surimi in France has run out of steam in recent years.
Innovation has become a tough challenge in this mature market, where discounting is frequent and retailers tend to have little patience with new product launches.
Surimi has been stuck with negative perceptions about the quality of some products including lower than expected fish content following adverse publicity in recent years.
To turn the market around executives must find a strategy to attract the youngest consumers who represent a sizeable proportion of the marketing category consisting of those under 35 years of age.
At 60.5 percent market penetration in the under 35 age group is above the national average but it falls well short of the 68 percent seen in 35-49 age group.
This suggests younger consumers will take less of a taste for surimi with them when they later join currently higher consumption middle aged groups.
While market penetration continues to be highest among the two lowest French income groups, the population in and around Paris has the least developed taste for surimi.
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