If all food products are victims of inflation (on average 14%), frozen products experiencing the highest price increase: 18.5%. Among these products, frozen meats are the most affected: 32%. Ready meals increased by 15% and frozen vegetables by 14%, according to IRI. What are the reasons for this increase?
Frozen products are increasingly expensive because their price is closely linked to that of energy. Inflation has caused energy bills to rise by 85%. “Frozen products are kept at a temperature below -18°. Energy consumption is necessarily very high. For a refrigerated warehouse, between 20 and 25% of its loads is energy”, reveals Valérie Lasserre, General Delegate of the Cold Logistics Chain, on Europe 1.
More generally, it is the increasing cost of all charges that leads to an increase in the final price: among others, the price of packaging, transport but also raw materials.
Cathy Collart Geiger, CEO of PICARD, takes the example of frozen ground beef. “The animal is fed with cereals, which increase to more than 40%. At the slaughterhouse, production, energy, wages have increased. The meat is packaged, and the packaging is more than 40% higher Then it is transported to the various warehouses or stores, and the transport is impacted by the increase in fuel.”
Not to mention the rise in the price of energy, frozen products therefore suffer from the increase in the cost of raw materials, packaging and transport. Costs that directly impact the final price and consumers.
