Christmas 2024: A great year for gammon and British cheese
Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Grocery sales surpassed £13 billion this Christmas for the first time, with an upturn in grocery price inflation of 3.7%, the highest level since March 2024 (Kantar 4 w/e 29 December 2024).
As forecasted in our Christmas predictions article, 23 December proved to be the most popular grocery shopping day with sales 30% higher than any other day in 2024. Growth of premium own-label lines increased 14.6%, showing consumers are willing to pay a bit more for a treat, and online grocery spending reached a record £1.6bn, reaching 5.6m households this Christmas (Kantar 4w/e 29 December 2024).
Meat, fish and poultry (MFP)
Total MFP volumes remained flat versus Christmas 2023 but remained at an elevated level of +2.0% versus Christmas 2022. Whole chicken and whole turkey fared well, with +2.3% and +2.4% year-on-year volume growth, boosted by an increase in promotions versus last Christmas. In contrast, beef, lamb and pork Christmas joints saw a decrease in promotions versus last Christmas, which contributed to a decline in volumes sold this year (Kantar 4 w/e 29 December 2024). The impact of promotions will be explained in more depth following further investigation.
Christmas 2024 meat volume and promotional share change
Source: Kantar 4 w/e 29 December 2024 | YoY volume change | YoY promotional share change
Despite the drop in promotion this Christmas, lamb roasting joints continued to show a stronger performance than we have seen in the past, echoing the good performance for lamb as a whole across 2024 (4.3% volume growth Kantar 52 w/e 29 December 2024). Check out our recent article on lamb: Consumers flocked back to lamb in 2024 | AHDB.
Lamb roasting volumes Christmas 2021–2024
Source: Kantar 4 w/e 3 January 2021 through to 29 December 2024 | Volume (kilograms)
For beef, although we see a decline in roasting joint volumes, total primary beef volumes grew 1.8% year-on-year, driven by good performance for beef mince (+5.0%), beef steak (+3.2%) and diced beef (+6.1%). Total processed beef also performed well with a 2.3% increase in volume year-on-year, driven by burgers (+9.4%) (Kantar 4 w/e 29 December 2024). These results suggest that beef offerings were key to consumer meal repertoires in the run-up to Christmas delivering on both enjoyment and value for money.
Within pig meat, gammon roasting joints are the star of the show, with a +1.4% volume increase year-on year (Kantar 4 w/e 29 December 2024). Volumes of gammon roasting joints sold during December represent 24.4% of all gammon roasting joint volumes sold during 2024, demonstrating the importance of this offering to the Christmas festivities.
Gammon roasting volumes throughout 2024
Source: Kantar 4 w/e 28 January 2024 through to 29 December 2024 | Volume (kilograms)
Further data for beef, lamb and pork’s recent category performance can be found in our retail data dashboards.
*Previous years AHDB have looked at 2 w/e data for MFP Christmas Reviews but please note this year only 4 w/e data is available from Kantar.
Dairy
Total dairy volumes declined 5.3% this Christmas versus last Christmas, with a mixed picture across offerings: a positive uplift is seen for volumes of cow’s cheese and yogurt, with volume declines year-on-year for cow’s milk, butter and cream (NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB, 2 w/e 28 December 2024).
Christmas 2024 dairy volume and promotional share change
Source: NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB 2 w/e 28 December 2024 | YoY volume change | YoY promotional share change
Within cow’s cheese, strong volume growth year-on-year was seen for Cheddar (+3.8%), speciality/continental cheese (+4.8%) and Stilton & British blue cheese (+15.0%) (NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB 2 w/e 28 December 2024), reflecting our predictions for cheese boards favouring brie, Cheddar and Stilton. Volumes of Stilton and British blue cheese sold during December represented 23.7% of total volumes for 2024, reinforcing the importance of this type of cheese to Christmas celebrations.
Stilton and British blue cheese volumes throughout 2024
Source: NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB, 4 w/e 27 January 2024 through to 28 December 2024 | Volume (kilograms)
Cream is a key accompaniment to many Christmas desserts, and we saw double cream volumes increase 2.6% year-on-year. Strong promotions on specific types of cream helped drive volume increases for clotted cream (+8.1%) and aerosol cream (8.2%); however a drop in promotions may have contributed to a 14.2% decline in volumes for single cream, hindering cream performance overall (NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB, 2 w/e 28 December 2024).
Further data for dairy’s recent category performance can be found in our dairy retail dashboard.
A full analysis of Christmas sales is underway and we will publish a full Christmas review in early February.
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