Frozen products are highly popular at Anuga. Hence, for over 600 companies from 56 countries Anuga Frozen Food is the leading export platform for the global frozen food industry. As such, in this special anniversary year 2023 – flash freezing was namely invented 100 years ago – the trade fair is back with a strong participation. Additionally, there is a diversified event programme, which is once again being supported by the long-standing Anuga partner, the German Institute for Frozen Foods (dti). The dti is the lobby and communication platform of the frozen food industry in Germany, which stands for a turnover of around Euro 18.5 billion and which reliably supplies 80 million people with frozen food every day.
“We are delighted that the international frozen food sector is using Anuga as a central platform for its business and is taking the anniversary year as an opportunity to meet up in Cologne. This year, together with our strong partner, dti, we are offering a versatile programme with new impulses from and for the industry,” emphasised Jan Philipp Hartmann, Director of Anuga.
“The dti and the frozen food industry are looking ahead to Anuga, our global frozen food marketplace, with great anticipation,” dti Executive Director, Sabine Eichner, stated. “Frozen food is not only achieving record turnovers in Germany, the international business is also experiencing high growth. Frozen food is a future category. Frozen food is the driving force and game changer for the challenges in the area of more sustainable food systems – Anuga’s motto ‘Sustainable Growth’ harmonises perfectly with our industry. We are looking forward to engaging in an exchange with our members and guests, with frozen food fans from all over the globe – at our stand and during the many event highlights we are offering for the industry in Cologne.”
The leading exhibitors at Anuga Frozen Food include among others Agrarfrost (Germany), Aviko (Netherlands), Clarebout (Belgium), Lutosa, (Belgium), McCain (France) and Surgital (Italy). Other frozen food suppliers can also be found at the Anuga Out of Home, Anuga Meat and Anuga Bread & Bakery trade fairs, among others. The product spectrum ranges from fish and meat, fruit and vegetables, ready meals, bread & bakery products, ice cream, pizza, potato products to bulk packs for customers from the communal catering and gastronomy sectors.
An overview of the international frozen food market
According to the recently published report by Future Market Insights, the worldwide market for frozen food made a turnover to the value of US Dollar 314 billion in the year 2022 and with an annual growth rate of 6.7% this will increase up to US Dollar 602 billion by 2032. The consumers’ preference for food that is fast and simple to prepare is driving the growth. The average annual growth of the category frozen food was 9.0% between 2017 and 2022.
The popularity of frozen food dishes that are fast to prepare like pizza, but also of fresh frozen food components for self-cooking such as vegetables and fish and the high quality and freshness of frozen food have further increased the demand for frozen products. The concentration on high-quality frozen products both in the branded and private label section, the depiction of current trends such as vegan and vegetarian in the range of frozen foods is also promoting market growth by satisfying the fast-changing consumer needs.
Growth has also been recorded in Germany: According to the dti sales statistics, the sales of frozen food in the food retail sector amounted to 1.974 million tons in 2022, which was over six percent up on 2019 (1.861 million tons). The out-of-home market experienced significant growth in 2022 after the end of the COVID restrictions: The frozen food sales rose by 14.9 percent up to 1.935 million tons (2021: 1.684 million tons, 2019: 1.973 million tons). Hence, the present record figure of 2019 was already almost achieved again.
Frozen food events and trends at Anuga
The freshness of the products, a healthy diet and of course ingredients are the aspects that people personally find the most important regarding food (74-89 percent). Vegetarian or vegan alternatives come at the bottom of the list (so far). These mega trends are also proving to be stable in the current fifth frozen food trend barometer survey of the dti. Due to the ongoing high inflation in Germany, a low price continues to be very relevant for the consumers (67 percent).
As usual, as an official partner of Anuga Frozen Food and Anuga Out-of-Home, the dti will once again be represented at a stand in Hall 4.2, B11/C10, which is traditionally a popular point of contact for all its members, visitors and those with an interest in frozen food. This is where the German frozen food industry meets with guests from all over the world for industry discussions.
