July 2011/Prepared Foods -- Soup is not a category that springs to mind as fast-moving and dynamic; however, beneath the vast exterior of the $4+billion market, there are significant sector shifts. The dominant categories of ready-to-serve (RTS) wet soup and condensed soup are losing sales to dry soup and RTS broth. The overall pecking order is unlikely to change anytime soon, but change certainly appears afoot.
The big picture shows that, after several years of modest gains, FDMx (food, drug and mass merchandiser stores, excluding Wal-Mart) sales of soup ground to a halt and started to decline in 2009-2010. Sales fell around 4.2% in 2010 to just under $4.2 billion, as a range of factors buffeted the market. It is important to recognize the slow but steady growth in soup category sales between 2005-2008 was driven in large part by rising food prices. The average price paid per unit rose about 10% over that period, according to SymphonyIRI data, with the biggest jump (a little more than 4%) coming in 2008. However, since then, growth came in the context of broader increases in food prices and the onset of the 2007-2009 recession.