UK food and drink manufacturers should be looking to take advantage of the continuing boom in the ethnic foods market, according to research carried out by Food from Britain (FFB), the market development consultancy for British food and drink companies.

Whilst the UK has an ethnic food market worth £1billion and is expected to retain its dominance in this sector, saturation of some market segments is increasingly pushing manufacturers to seek overseas opportunities for growth. The recent study of the ready meals and ethnic food market has revealed that there are a number of opportunities for British food manufacturers in Europe.

Consumption of ethnic food and ready meals is on the increase, and greater travel is spreading the range, in particular Mexican food, which is proving particularly popular in the Spanish and Swedish markets. Sweden is now Europe's highest per capita consumer of Mexican food, and in Germany, Indian ready meals are gaining ground as UK players such as Noon enter the market.

According to Patricia Czerniak of FFB Germany: "Germans see ethnic food as an interesting new taste profile, but the range available is still relatively restricted and therefore offers good opportunities for new suppliers. It would seem that Germans consider ethnic food to be the basis for innovation within the food industry.  In particular, Thai and Indian are considered to be future food trends."

In addition, Germany's cooking sauces market is growing close to 30%, which holds significant opportunity at its current stage of development.

Ethnic food in Spain is a fast growing sector, increasing by 30% year on year, whilst in Belgium the ethnic food market is progressing strongly with a number of new cuisines entering the market, due in part to the international population and the perceived trendy' character of the ethnic food market.

The fastest developing markets for ready meals are the Netherlands and Belgium, with the Netherlands seeing double digit growth within both the frozen and chilled ready meals market.  However, its authentic ethnic food market is growing more slowly, offering shelf-space to just a few branded propositions, with Oriental, Italian and Mexican proving to be the most popular cuisines.

According to Chris Brockman, FFB's head of research and consultancy: Affluent Europeans are travelling abroad to what they see as ethnic environments, bringing back from their holidays memories of exotic dishes and supermarket buyers have been quick to seize on this to extend ready meal ranges and their cooking sauces. As the UK is recognised as a world leader in ready meals and ethnic food, producers can use their expertise to great advantage and opportunities to export to Europe are very high with retailers increasingly looking to source authentic products.

For further details, and to purchase a copy of the reports which are available for six European markets and the UK at £250 each, contact Chris Brockman on 020 7233 5111 or email ffb@readymealsinfo.com