Fresh meat increased dollar sales by 12.0% in February, easily outperforming the 1.4% increase in processed meat, leading to an overall 8.8% increase over February 2024, according to the latest Performance Report from Circana, 210 Analytics, and Hillphoenix.
The four February weeks generated $8.2 billion, with $5.9 billion for fresh meat. While inflation played a role, pound sales increased by 5.7% in fresh, but this result was pulled down by the 0.7% increase in processed for an overall gain of 4.4% year-on-year.
In 2024, Lent started on Valentine’s Day. In 2025, Lent started March 5th. Without a doubt is positively impacted meal sales both on the Valentine’s Day holiday but also the subsequent two weeks.
In the 52-week view ending March 2nd, dollar sales gained 5.7%. This increase reflects a combination of mild price increases and pound gains of 2.7%. Importantly, pound sales were also easily ahead of two years ago, at +2.9%.
Fresh Meat Sales by Protein
Despite inflation, beef grew pound sales by 8.5% year-over-year. Ground beef played a big role in that, but premium areas such as Ribeye and sirloin also grew pound sales year-on-year.
The entire fresh meat aisle had a strong February performance with gains for all but veal. In the full-year view, lamb had the highest year-on-year pound increases, at +11.6%, followed by beef and chicken.
| February 2025 | Latest 52 weeks | ||||||||
| Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | ||
| Total fresh meat | $5.9B | +12.0% | +5.7% | Total fresh meat | $74.3B | +7.9% | +3.8% | ||
| Fresh beef | $3.3B | +16.6% | +8.5% | Fresh beef | $41.2B | +11.2% | +5.8% | ||
| Fresh chicken | $1.6B | +8.1% | +5.3% | Fresh chicken | $19.7B | +4.8% | +3.2% | ||
| Fresh pork | $656M | +5.0% | +1.6% | Fresh pork | $8.5B | +4.2% | +1.4% | ||
| Fresh turkey | $201M | +4.1% | +3.0% | Fresh turkey | $3.2B | -0.3% | +2.3% | ||
| Fresh lamb | $67M | +11.4% | +6.1% | Fresh lamb | $909M | +7.0% | +11.6% | ||
| Fresh exotic | $16M | -4.1% | +1.7% | Fresh exotic | $222M | +3.6% | +2.9% | ||
| Veal | $3.6M | +1.7% | -3.3% | Veal | $44M | -4.1% | -6.2% | ||
Source: Circana, Integrated Fresh, MULO+
