What you need to know
Estimated at £1.6 billion, sales of total breakfast cereals rose by 6.7% over 2010-15, with volumes falling by almost 6% over the five years to 431m kg.
Overall average retail prices were rising between 2010 and 2013 but owing to the rise in popularity of the discount supermarkets and bargain stores there has been deflation in the market over the last two years.
Consumers’ breakfast habits are changing, with a wider variety of foods available, providing enticement away from the traditional breakfast of cereal/porridge and toast.
The dangers of high-sugar diets attracted prolonged negative media coverage in 2014 and into 2015. 82% of UK adults see flavoured cereal as containing a lot of sugar, with these cereals being hit hard by the heightened concerns around sugar.
Covered in this report
This report examines the UK retail market for breakfast cereals and excludes sales through foodservice channels.
For the purposes of this report, breakfast cereals are segmented into ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals and hot cereal products. The former comprises any cereals that are served without heating them, such as corn flakes or muesli and include ready-to-serve snack packs such as Rumblers and Kellogg’s To Go. The hot cereal segment consists of porridge, oatmeal and instant hot oat products.
Cereal bars (eg Nature Valley’s Crunchy) and other breakfast products (such as Kellogg’s Pop Tarts) are excluded from the scope of this report, but reference to them is made where relevant in the light of their role as competing products.
