PRESERVES

The preserves market continues to decline in value 5% year on year, with all sectors down. The major fall is in marmalade, down 9%, with jam dropping 2%. This has been exacerbated by a substantial decrease in preserves' value within Sainsbury and a smaller decrease in Tesco, particularly in the jams and marmalade sectors. Asda's performance has also contributed to the fall in marmalade. Marmalade Marmalade's decline is due primarily to negative growth in top brands, particularly Duerr's thick cut and Rose's thin cut marmalade. As a whole, branded products are down 9%, although Chivers Olde English, thin cut and breakfast marmalades are growing. Retailers' own label marmalade is down 8% overall, led by Sainsbury's thick marmalade and thin cut marmalade. Tesco's Value marmalade is enjoying massive growth, however. Other own label products experiencing growth are Lidl and Asda thin cut. JAM Despite jams as a whole declining, the larger brands seem to be bucking the trend, with Tesco standard, Hartley's pure fruit and Asda standard jams all growing well ahead of the total market. Own label is down 3%, while branded products are down 1%. The own label decline has been led by the fall in Sainsbury, Co-op and Asda Farmstores standard jam, although other own label products are growing, especially Tesco standard, Safeway and St Michael Extra jams. Many branded products are still experiencing growth, despite the overall fall in value. Among the frontrunners are Chivers Hartley's pure fruit jam, St Dalfour fruit spread and Bonne Maman conserve. The greatest decline in branded jam products can be seen in Robertson's standard and Streamline reduced sugar jams. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}