by Remi Vazeille, account director, Taylor Nelson Sofres Superpanel Total market The total pasta and pasta sauces market is worth approximately £314.5m, a value increase of 10.2% over the year. This performance has been driven by strong growth in fresh pasta and ambient jarred sauces. As a sector, fresh and dry pasta together is worth around £126m. Dry continues to dominate, standing at £81m, but sales are flat at -0.5%, though volume has increased. This is due to an average price decline in the sector, driven by value own label lines. Fresh Pasta Fresh has seen continued growth over the last few years and now stands at £45m, with 12% year on year growth. This growth has been driven primarily by the increase in the number of fresh pasta buyers. Over half a million new households have started buying fresh pasta in the last 52 weeks, bringing the total penetration to 22.3%. Fresh pasta buyers are spending more of their total pasta spend on fresh pasta as loyalty to the sector increases. Fresh sauces Fresh pasta sauces have also seen value growth, but at 1% this is a much less spectacular performance. Fresh pasta sauces are purchased 20% less often than fresh pasta (3.7 times a year, versus 4.4). Ambient sauces Ambient pasta sauces are showing strong growth at 17.6%, largely due to the continued success of Dolmio Stir-Ins, and the launch of Ragú Speciale. Sainsbury and Asda own label are also showing strong growth. Own label Fresh pasta and sauces continues to be largely own label dominated (over 85% share). In dry pasta, own label accounts for 81% share which is declining slowly as Buitoni shows stable growth and the success of value lines devalue the sector. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}