How can bakery manufacturers achieve growth in a stagnant market? - FoodNavigator's virtual conference will tell you how

FoodNavigator.com is hosting a virtual conference and expo next Thursday - March 29 2012 - on bakery formulation. Hear leading voices in the industry talk about what constitutes tomorrow’s value added bakery and cereal lines and how to formulate them.   

The online event will help formulators, nutritionists, marketers and brand development managers determine the critical requriements for achieving growth in today's competitive market.

For free registration or to find out more, go to the Bakery Formulation 2012 virtual conference website.

The EU retail bakery market

The retail bakery market in Europe continues to face significant challenges. Retail volumes have remained largely flat since 2006, and stood at 60.6 million metric tonnes in 2011, according to the latest data from Euromonitor International.

While consumption of biscuits and breakfast cereals has continued to increase across the region, as consumers increasingly seek out convenient and often healthy food options, this has been more than offset by steadily declining retail bread volumes.

Bread category hit

The bread cateogry, claims bakery market watchers at Euromonitor International, has suffered as European consumers opt for more convenient alternatives such as breakfast cereal, ready-made sandwiches and other types of packaged food that is more easily eaten quickly or on-the-go.

The bakery market specialists claim that with retail volume prospects for the European bakery industry unlikely to improve in the short to medium term, manufacturers must focus even more on driving retail value sales and protecting their increasingly squeezed margins.

Ultimately this translates as a continued need for added value NPD, rather than simply cutting costs and retail prices.

Private label pressure

“Continued retailer consolidation favouring modern grocery formats – and alongside that mounting competition from private label – will make innovative product differentiation even more of a necessity.

Moreover, with input costs for cereals expected to be flat to declining during 2012, this should free up resources for R&D,” adds Euromonitor.