In its annual UK Grocery and Foodservice Wholesaling Outlook report it says the cash and carry market grew by 1.1% to £9.5bn and delivered wholesale was up 2.2% to £8.3bn. Delivered foodservice wholesalers were the fastest growing element in the wholesaling market, up 2.6% to £6.3bn.

Patrick Mitchell-Fox, IGD senior business analyst, said one of the key trends identified in this year's report is in the cash and carry sector where all the main players are making much greater efforts to attract foodservice customers. He said: "There has been a major step up in foodservice. The cash and carry companies have been talking about it for years, but now things are really changing, and companies such as Booker, Bestway and Makro are putting a lot of resources into the sector."

Sales to foodservice customers by cash and carries were up 2% to £2.2bn, but the growth figure was depressed by a fall of 8.5% in tobacco sales. Stripping out tobacco, growth was 3.1% with categories such as frozen food and non-food consumables growing by 4.6% and 8.1% respectively.

Mitchell-Fox said another positive trend in the report was the increase in chilled and fresh food sales to retailers. Sales by cash and carries were up 4.3% to £534m while delivered wholesalers sales were up 5.2% to £716m.

Looking to the future, Mitchell-Fox said the distinction between cash and carry and delivered wholesalers was becoming increasingly blurred, with many cash and carry operators expanding into delivery. For instance, for the purposes of the report all Booker's sales were counted as cash and carry although its delivered business is now worth £500m.

To find out more about the report go to http://www.igd.com/ukwholesalingoutlook

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