Porridge Gains Popularity

The growth of consumer demand for porridge has led to development within the hot cereals sector; sales of porridge have almost doubled since 2008 and have earned their producers £241 million in 2013.

Heidi Lanschuetzer, food and drinks analyst at Mintel said, “With an increased selection of higher priced porridge options now available, Brits have not just been consuming more porridge, but trading up to more varieties of flavours and packaging options when they do. While porridge has found a way to tap into the out of home breakfast occasion, the segment has also benefited from oats’ inherent health benefits, notably the fact that they can lower cholesterol, as well as their widely held associations with satiety – a factor which is of particular importance when it comes to buying breakfast cereals. Given that the usage of porridge stands at half of all Brits, the hot cereals segment still offers strong potential for future growth in areas such as vitamin or mineral fortification or flavour innovation.”

Figures are also on the rise for other cereals, with 92 per cent of the UK population having eaten breakfast cereal in the past six months.

Numbers are expected to increase steadily over the next five years, with a 13 per cent boost in sales expected to be quoted in 2018. According to Mintel, the same period should also see value growth of 46 per cent due to inflationary pressures and trading up.