Total pasta The total pasta market has seen a rise in sales of 3.3% year on year to the 52 w/e April 5 1998. In the latest year, total pasta is worth £221.8m. It is made up of three constituent parts ­ dry, fresh and canned. Fresh, the smallest of the sectors, has gained the best growth, up 10.5% year on year. Canned pasta is the most heavily branded with total private label taking just over a quarter of the share. This is well under private label levels for the Superpanel average packaged grocery measure. Dry pasta and fresh pasta both have private label in excess of 70%. Liquid pasta sauces Liquid pasta sauce is defined as a sub-sector within cooking sauces, which includes both wet and dry. The total cooking sauces market is worth £384.9m in the year to April 5 1998 with 17.7% growth. The market has seen the introduction of potato sauces in the last year. The liquid pasta sauce sub-sector is worth £123m and exceeds sales growth in the market at 19.8%. Three major players dominate the market ­ total private label in first, Dolmio in second, and Ragu third. HOW PASTA AND PASTA SAUCES ARE DOING Pasta 52w/e 52w/e April 6 '97 April 5 '98 Retail sales Retail sales Year-on-year in £000s in £000s growth (%) Total pasta 214,796 221,783 3.3 By sector: Sales share Sales share (%) (%) Dry pasta 39.6 39.0 1.8 Fresh pasta 15.7 16.8 10.5 Canned pasta 44.7 44.2 2.0 Cooking sauces Retail sales Retail sales Year-on-year in £000s in £000s growth (%) Total cooking sauces 327,126 384,923 17.7 By sector: Sales share Sales share (%) (%) Pour over sauces 9.6 7.8 -4.6 Potato sauces 0.1 5.7 n/a Liquid pasta/pizza sauce 32.3 32.5 18.5 Cook-in sauce 57.6 53.6 9.5 Other products 0.4 0.4 18.2 Sub-sector Liquid pasta sauce 31.6 32.2 19.8 Source: Taylor Nelson AGB Superpanel {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}