UK foodservice seafood sales nosedive nearly $1 billion from pre-pandemic levels

Seafood sales at UK foodservice outlets in 2021 were down £700 million (€825.8 million/$914.9 million) compared with pre-pandemic levels, despite some healthy signs of recovery and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, according to research from NPD Group.

Sales in the sector amounted to £3.5 billion (€4.1 billion/$4.6 billion) -- 16.7 percent lower than in 2019 when they were £4.2 billion (€5 billion/$5.5 billion) -- but the market is heading in the right direction and is at 84 percent of the pre-pandemic levels, Sergey Chekmarev, a senior market research consultant at NPD Group UK, told attendees at a Seafish webinar on Tuesday.