?"With value sales increasing by 9.9% year-on-year, sweetcorn is emerging as the major contributor to growth in canned vegetables. In fact, sweetcorn has delivered more actual value growth (£5m year-on-year) than the rest of the canned vegetables category combined (£3.4m). Green Giant TV adverts have had a big impact on sales. Following summer ads for the brand, we saw canned sweetcorn growth levels rise to an all-time

high of £55.8m. "

Andy Foweather Sales director, General Mills UK



?"The core canned vegetables market is tomatoes and it is continuing to increase. Baked beans and sweetcorn are also in growth. Tomatoes are seen as very versatile products and are used as a traditional vegetable on the plate and in recipes; sweetcorn is more readily available in a can than in any other format, and the baked beans category was boosted by the Branston beans launch. Own label has the biggest market share in tomatoes at 67%, followed by Napolina with a 23% share. The majority of the market is in chopped tomatoes and then Italian peeled plum tomatoes."

Neil Brownbill Marketing director, Princes



?"Canned foods are a key part of the grocery market but overall have a declining share of trade. With some key exceptions, for example beans, soup and tuna, there is a strong own-label bias and there has been little innovation in the sector over the past decade. To meet today's customer expectations we need to keep products relevant to modern lifestyles. The future also lies in more customer-friendly and versatile packaging formats and, with the low level of brand innovation, this will largely be driven by own label. Sainsbury's successful launch of Tetra Recart packaging into tomatoes is an example of this change."

Les Rowse Grocery category manager, Sainsbury's



?"Canned soup has high penetration levels but its seasonality as a product for the winter months knocks it back in terms of overall canned market share. Within soup generally, the canned format is very important. While ambient soup overall is in decline, Baxters is growing by 14% year-on-year. The most popular Baxters soups are the 'cream of' variants because they have the widest appeal. We recently launched Oxtail soup into our favourites range (we segmented soups into five categories a few years ago), but it is our Healthy Choice range that was the fastest-growing category last year in percentage terms."

Kerr Arthur Brand controller, Baxters