The latest meat, fish and poultry (MFP) market update from Kantar Worldpanel, covering the 12 weeks to 17th June, finds value and volume sales are in growth across all categories including fish.

The recent weather is helping grocers, and the supermarkets are in sustained growth.

The data reveals a strong performance which has not been seen in the market for three years.

Nathan Ward, business unit director for MFP, explains: “The big news last month was that chilled fish had returned to growth, and this positive story continues this period.

“We’ve seen a return to value and volume growth in the category, as lower levels of inflation have helped to attract shoppers back.

“Chilled fish featured in 1.4 million more shopping baskets than this time last year, with basket sizes up 1.4%. These two elements are key to the volume growth seen in the category.”

Ward continues: “Natural fish is a big driver of the volume growth, with 280,000 additional kilos sold as 310,000 more shoppers picked it up.

“Salmon is key to this performance, growing volume at 3.9% and adding 1.4m more trips to the category.

“Shellfish are also seeing strong growth, as shoppers pick up more prawns – perhaps another example of summer eating habits impacting the market.”

Meanwhile, sales of burgers and grills continue to grow, and primary and processed poultry were the other big winners in MFP, with volume sales growing faster than the overall market, and more shoppers buying it year on year.

Chicken breasts continue to see strong promotional support, with sales on deals up 66% on last year and price cuts and multi-buys driving significant growth through 1.5 million more trips.

Burgers have also attracted just over one million more shoppers than last year.

It is likely shoppers will continue enjoying the heatwave, and the MFP market should see another positive set of results next month.