The food market sales decline by 2.2% during November and amounted to NIS 4 billion

The food market continues to plunge and the decline in food market sales did not stop even during November. According to Sterncast data, sales of the food, beverage, care and cleaning market fell by 2.2% in November compared to November 2020, and amounted to NIS 4 billion.
The decline in sales in November was led by the food category, which fell by 2.8%, followed by the beverage category, which fell by 2.1% compared to November last year. The category of household products fell by a slight 0.4%, while sales of toiletries grew slightly by 0.4%. It can be estimated that the decline in sales of the household products category was halted following the increase in the prices of disposable utensils as a result of the purchase tax imposed on the products. In total, since the beginning of the year, food sales have fallen by 4%, sales of household products by 2.6% and care products have fallen by 1.4%.
The data also show that the large suppliers, who did not promote the wave of price increases that the heads of the food chains tried to produce during the year, actually strengthened and maintained their market share. The market share of Strauss, the second largest food company, has risen since the beginning of the year to 12.4% of the market, compared with 12% in the corresponding period. The main company (Coca-Cola Israel), which also owns Terra Dairy, rose to 6.5% compared to 6.4% in the corresponding period last year, while Yafora's market share rose to 1.9% compared to 1.7%. The market share of Osem and Unilever Israel increased to 9% and 3.6%, respectively, while Tempo maintained its strength with 2.2% of sales. The market share of the largest supplier, Tnuva, fell to 14.1%, compared with 14.3% in the corresponding period last year.
This is a continuation of the negative trend presented by the marketing chains in their reports for the summary of the third quarter. The decline in sales was expected against the backdrop of a 9.2% jump in the industry's sales in 2020, as a result of food storage leading up to the first closure and increased purchases of household consumption products in the months when restaurants and hotels closed. But despite the decline in sales, retail chains improved their profitability in the period as a result of improved terms of trade from suppliers, which was not passed on to consumers.
Thus, for example, Shufersal's gross profit increased to 27% of sales, compared with only 26.1% in the corresponding quarter last year. In the Freshmarket chain, gross profit for the quarter rose to 35.6%, compared with 35% as a result of improved trading conditions. In the Yohananoff chain, suppliers also improved the chain's trading conditions, to the extent that it led to an improvement in gross profit for the quarter to 26.6% of sales, compared with 26.1% in the corresponding quarter last year.
The Victory chain maintained the level of profitability that the chain had in the corresponding quarter last year, while in Tiv Ta'am, which lowered the prices of thousands of products this year, gross profit in the quarter fell from 31.8% of sales last year to 31.6% in the third quarter. In about three weeks the civil year will end, and it is estimated that it will show a decrease at a rate similar to that recorded so far. This is an exceptional result in the consumer goods market, which grows every year at least at the rate of natural growth in the population, of about 2%.