Fresh beetroot is flying off the shelves as shoppers buy into its health benefits and take advantage of lower prices.
Volume sales of fresh beetroot have risen 10.3% over the past year, with Brits tucking into more than 18.3 million kilos of the purple root veg according to Kantar Worldpanel [52w/e 10 June].
Value sales have also increased, by 5.2%, ringing up more than £42.5m at retailers' tills.
Shoppers were buying beetroot more often, said Kantar analyst Catherine Cross. "There has also been an increase in the number of shoppers buying it, together with a decrease in price per kilo."
An average retail price drop of more than 10% to about £2.30 per kilo had been a major factor behind increasing consumption, confirmed Cambridgeshire grower G's Fresh Beetroot, part of G's Marketing, and the UK's single-biggest supplier of beetroot.
Its appeal had also been bolstered by recent studies into its health-giving properties, G's claimed.
According to a study by the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University in London, patients who drank a glass of beetroot juice a day had significantly lower blood pressure thanks to a high level of naturally occurring nitrates.
"Although studies like this have centred on juice, there has been a knock-on benefit for the vegetable," said Graham Forber, MD of G's Fresh Beetroot.
"People have also become more adventurous as beetroot has become more heavily featured in magazine recipes."
Interest in the vegetable had increased so much that there had been more than 14,000 visitors to G's revamped Love Beetroot website since the beginning of March, he added.
Wiltshire-based Bromham Growers said it had grown output of beetroot by 10% in the past year to keep up with demand.
"It seems people have become more aware of beetroot and are using it in main meals and salads," said marketing director Ross Paget.
Volume sales of fresh beetroot have risen 10.3% over the past year, with Brits tucking into more than 18.3 million kilos of the purple root veg according to Kantar Worldpanel [52w/e 10 June].
Value sales have also increased, by 5.2%, ringing up more than £42.5m at retailers' tills.
Shoppers were buying beetroot more often, said Kantar analyst Catherine Cross. "There has also been an increase in the number of shoppers buying it, together with a decrease in price per kilo."
An average retail price drop of more than 10% to about £2.30 per kilo had been a major factor behind increasing consumption, confirmed Cambridgeshire grower G's Fresh Beetroot, part of G's Marketing, and the UK's single-biggest supplier of beetroot.
Its appeal had also been bolstered by recent studies into its health-giving properties, G's claimed.
According to a study by the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University in London, patients who drank a glass of beetroot juice a day had significantly lower blood pressure thanks to a high level of naturally occurring nitrates.
"Although studies like this have centred on juice, there has been a knock-on benefit for the vegetable," said Graham Forber, MD of G's Fresh Beetroot.
"People have also become more adventurous as beetroot has become more heavily featured in magazine recipes."
Interest in the vegetable had increased so much that there had been more than 14,000 visitors to G's revamped Love Beetroot website since the beginning of March, he added.
Wiltshire-based Bromham Growers said it had grown output of beetroot by 10% in the past year to keep up with demand.
"It seems people have become more aware of beetroot and are using it in main meals and salads," said marketing director Ross Paget.
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