PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION 



1925-1958 



STYLE 



♦ & 



FROZEN 6. FRESH 



I TOTAL CANNED 



CANNED SALMON 



CANNED 

 TUNA 



1925 



1935 



1946 



1955-58 



CURED 



Figure 7. 



remained almost static during the same 

 period. The outlook is for plentiful 

 supplies of meat, poultry, eggs and cheese, 

 and there appears little likelihood for 

 tuna consumption to make any marked in- 

 crease as a result of shortages of other 

 protein foods. 



MARKET DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS 

 OF THE BUREAU 



Now all of this is very interesting, 

 but I know you are all wondering how we 

 intend to shape our market development 

 program so as to improve the position of 

 the tuna processing and producing industry 

 in today's tremendously competitive food 

 market. 



It seems to me that wider use could 

 be made of market research facilities 

 both on the part of the tuna producing 

 and processing industry, and the Bureau. 

 Today's selling calls for using all of 

 the means of modern marketing. Market- 

 ing decisions can be made much better 

 if the proper facts are available and we 

 all ought to use them. With proper 

 knowledge, marketing and distribution can 

 be analyzed as effectively aa production , 

 but to do this we must know what actually 

 is the market condition. We have charted 

 the changes that have taken place in the 

 past, and we have a fairly good picture 

 of the situation that affects today's 

 sales. Any programs, to be effective, 

 should have the elasticity to meet these 

 ever-changing conditions. 



I mentioned earlier that we have 

 conducted some surveys. These merely 

 scratch the surface. A considerable amount 

 of work remains to be done on such projects 

 as consumer preference studies and con- 

 sumer uses. Our funds to date could not 

 support broad studies of this type. There 

 are now available, from commercial sources, 

 studies on the end use of various foods 

 and it would seem that this type of mate- 

 rial would have direct application to the 

 industry in formulating its processing 

 programs for the future as well as its 

 sales promotion and advertising campaigns 

 both individually and collectively. We 

 have contracted with the Market Research 

 Corporation of America for their monthly 

 consumer diary panel study, and to date 

 have received the reports for October 

 1958 through March 1959. I wish to em- 

 phasize that these figures are collected 

 on a commodity basis and do not contain 

 any information on individual brands, 

 sales and movements. These figures in- 

 dicate the sales of canned tuna, both 

 domestic and imported, by the various 

 types of pack on a United States projected 

 basis, and by each of the five geographi- 

 cal regions. They also show nationally 

 and geographically, the number of families 

 buying tuna, the average prices paid for 

 the types of pack and can size, and the 

 average purchase transaction. This study 

 also gives the same type of information 

 with respect to sales through chain stores, 

 independents and other outlets. An anal- 

 ysis of these figures indicates sales 

 trends geographically, sales changes as 

 correlated with price changes, seasonality 

 of sales, and the position of the domestic 

 production with respect to foreign products. 

 This type of information can be particu- 

 larly valuable in planning individual, 

 collective and cooperative sales promotion. 

 We can determine the most advantageous 

 time of the year for promotion, the areas 

 in which the program should be conducted, 

 and the type of consumer to whom the 

 material should be directed. As this study 

 progresses, and the full 12 months figures 

 are available, we will have a very good 

 picture of the canned tuna sales pattern 

 in the United States. We will know who 

 is buying the product, where, and to feed 

 whom. 



After consultation with representative 

 segments of the tuna industry, we also let 

 a contract to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 



91 



