Despite the falling birth rate, the UK market for baby milks and baby foods has maintained steady growth over the past 5 years (1999 to 2003). A number of factors are responsible for this, including socio-demographic trends, such as the trend for older motherhood and the high proportion of mothers of young children in full- or part-time employment. Innovation by manufacturers has also played an important part in the development of the market, with new products emphasising convenience and health advantages. The market has also benefited from the growth of organic baby foods, which command a price premium.
Convenience has been one of the main drivers of the market for prepared baby meals, prompted particularly by the growing number of working mothers. To counter this, there has been a trend - encouraged by government advice - towards introducing solid foods at a later age. Baby food in jars represent by far the largest segment of the baby meals sector, and have increased their share during the past 5 years. However, the potential food safety issues connected to food in glass jars - which received widespread coverage in October 2003 - may affect this balance, at least in the short term.
The overall market for baby milk has grown relatively slowly over the past 5 years. The development of added-value products, such as follow-on milks (FOMs) and ready-to-drink (RTD) formats, has been balanced by continuing price promotions within the sector.
The market for baby drinks is small, and has been declining since the mid-1990s, mainly due to controversy over sugar levels, and also because of the widespread availability of alternatives to baby drinks
The baby finger foods sector, although small, is the most dynamic within the baby foods market. Rusks used to dominate the sector, but a wide range of both sweet and savoury products is now available. The rise of the sector mirrors the growing importance of snacking within the adult market. It has also been helped by the fact that parents are becoming more health-conscious on behalf of their babies; they are aware of the implications of feeding them adult 'junk food' and would rather give them specially-formulated finger foods.
According to Key Note's exclusive consumer research, parents are now showing greater acceptance of prepared baby meals than they were in 2001. The coverage of baby food jars seems to have had a relatively small effect on parents' views, with only a slight drop in the number that think that the quality of meals in jars is higher than that of dry baby food. There has been a slight increase in the proportion of parents that think manufactured baby milks should be as near as possible to natural breast milk - and no change in the percentage that assert that 'organic is best' for babies.
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