Supermarket trends for rainbow and steelhead trout products: Evidence from scanner data

Abstract

Farm-raised trout is the second-largest foodfish sector of United States (U.S.) aquaculture, with the first trout farms established more than a century ago. Given its importance to both U.S. and global aquaculture, there is surprisingly little research on critical markets and marketing for trout in the U.S. Scanner data (AC Nielsen ScanTrack) were used for the time period from September 2016 through August 2021 to compare retail sales of the trout products sold across years at national, regional, and city levels to provide information on sales revenue, volumes sold, and prices. Supermarket sales of trout increased from $100 to $135 million from 2016 to 2021; the average annual growth rate of sales was 8.3%. Trout prices were relatively stable over the study period in contrast to the generally increasing trends for seafood generally. The South Atlantic region was found to be the largest region for trout products and experienced a 13% average annual growth in sales, but the fastest growth rate of sales (15%) was observed in the West North Central region. The two top market regions for trout sales overall were Seattle/Tacoma and Portland Oregon, followed by Atlanta. Seventy-two percent of trout sales were of steelhead trout, with 26% of rainbow trout. Rainbow trout prices increased by 12% annually in contrast to those for steelhead trout that were relatively constant. This study highlighted the complexities of the U.S. retail trout market, with increasing volumes of imported steelhead and rainbow trout capturing the growing market demand for trout. Additional attention is needed to reduce barriers to expansion for U.S. trout farmers. Future studies that measure the substitutability of steelhead for rainbow trout in key markets as well as greater attention to food service sales to restaurants would provide useful marketing information for trout farmers.