INNOVATIVE FREEZING EQUIPMENT
The cells of organisms and plants have different structures. Also, one type of organism may have a different cellular structure. Therefore, you need to freeze the product in different ways. For freezing, we use unique individual waves for each type of product. Our equipment freezes only free water in the cage, but does not freeze biologically useful substances. The technology creates nanoscale ice crystals that grow very slowly. As a result, the cell walls are not damaged after thawing, the color, taste, smell and structure are preserved.
The frozen foods industry looks to capitalize on last year’s momentum with a continued focus on growing its customer base, while expanding category options for shoppers.
What else can be said about the stellar performance of frozen foods in 2020? Every single category saw unprecedented leaps in year-over-year (YOY) growth, driven by a population immersed in pandemic precautions, and consequently eating the majority of their meals at home.
Frozen foods offer the combination of convenience, variety, value and longevity that many other foods can’t match, and were perfectly suited to 2020’s homebound circumstances. Approximately 7% of consumers bought frozen foods for the first time in 2020, according to the American Frozen Food Institute’s (AFFI) most recent Power of Frozen report, which was compiled with market research firm IRI.
Other statistics from 2020 tell the story of an extraordinary year for the industry. These numbers come from AFFI’s Power of Frozen report, and from the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), who compiled retail frozen food sales in 2020 with market research firm Nielsen:
Frozen foods sold $67.5 billion in 2020, moving 17.3 billion units, an increase of nearly 21% from 2019. In contrast, the YOY growth for frozen foods from 2018 to 2019 was just 2% (NFRA).
During the peak pandemic purchasing timeframe (March 2020), YOY sales of frozen foods were 53% higher than March 2019 (AFFI).
Ice cream and frozen novelties combined for $14.4 billion, up from $11.3 billion in 2019 (AFFI and NFRA).
Frozen seafood saw the largest gain of any product, selling $1.6 billion more than 2019, for a total of $6.8 billion—a 35% YOY increase (AFFI).
Frozen pizza sold $6.1 billion, while frozen entrées sold $10.3 billion, for a combined $16.4 billion, compared to $9.3 billion in 2019 (AFFI and NFRA).
Approximately 9% of consumers purchased kitchen appliances in 2020 to cook frozen foods at home. These include air fryers, Instant Pots, pizza ovens, and more (AFFI).
About 77% of total frozen food sales in 2020 were from national brands, down from 80.4% in 2015. Private label growth increased during that time by 22.8%, but national brands still dominate with $7.3 billion in sales, compared to $2.8 billion for private label foods in 2020 (AFFI).
Approximately 70% of frozen foods customers are interested in plant-based options today, with the majority of them adopting a flexitarian diet, as opposed to straight vegan or vegetarian eating (AFFI).
Among high-frequency frozen foods consumers, 46% say resealable packaging is very important, while 37% say sustainable frozen foods packaging is also very important (AFFI).
The continued rise of e-commerce for frozen foods (home delivery, curbside pickup, direct-to-consumer shipping) was boosted by pandemic precautions for shoppers, accounting for $7.4 billion in sales—a 75% increase over 2019 (AFFI).
The success of frozen foods in 2021 will depend on several factors, including whether people have made purchasing, cooking and consuming frozen foods a permanent at-home habit, and whether foodservice—which was essentially wiped out by COVID-19—makes a full comeback with on-premise dining.
From any perspective though, it looks like frozen foods are poised to continue growing in 2021, and while they likely won’t reach the sales peaks of 2020, anything close to double-digit YOY growth in 2021 will be viewed as a major success, particularly since YOY growth for frozen foods was stuck in the low single digits (or even negative growth) for years before 2020.
The global frozen food market is expected to grow from $167.34 billion in 2020 to $174.4 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $224.2 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 6%.
The frozen food market consists of sales of frozen food by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that produce frozen food including frozen fruits, juices, vegetables, and frozen specialty foods. This market does not cover meat products. The companies in the frozen food industry package and distribute their products through various distribution channels to both individual customers and commercial establishments. The frozen food market is segmented into frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable and frozen specialty food.
Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global frozen food market, accounting for 40% of the market in 2020. North America was the second largest region accounting for 30% of the global frozen food market. Africa was the smallest region in the global frozen food market.
Frozen food manufacturers are using technologies such as individual quick freezing (IQF) to improve yield and quality of frozen foods. The IQF method involves transferring the individual food items on a conveyor belt into a blast freezer that quickly freezes the items. With IQF method, every individual piece of food is frozen separately, as opposed to bulk or block freezing. This method boosts yield by 1.5-3% and results in better quality products with high nutritional value and less wastage. Examples of IQF foods include fruits such as blueberries, strawberries and peaches, and vegetables such as corn, peas and green beans. The global IQF vegetable market is expected to reach $2 billion by 2026, thus indicating significant demand for IQF food products in future.
The frozen food manufacturing market growth is aided by stable economic growth forecasted in many developed and developing countries. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global GDP growth will be 3.3% in 2020 and 3.4% in 2021. Recovering commodity prices, after a significant decline in the historic period is further expected to aid the market growth. Developed economies are also expected to register stable growth during the forecast period. Additionally, emerging markets are expected to continue to grow slightly faster than the developed markets in the forecast period. Stable economic growth is expected to increase investments in the end user markets, thereby driving the market during forecast period.
