Festive bonanza

Sainsbury’s has announced that, for the four weeks to 25 November, sales of its mince pies were up by 120% compared to the same time last year, and sales of its iced Christmas Cake were up 75%.

Online food to soar

The value of online grocery shopping is predicted to almost double to £9.5bn in the next five years, according to new research published by IGD. It looks set to represent 5.2% of the overall UK grocery market by 2015, compared to 3.2% at the moment.

Kerry’s Oz deal

General Mills is to sell its Croissant King and van den Bergh’s frozen bakery business in Australia to Ireland-based food and ingredients firm Kerry Group. The sale includes frozen dough and pastry products sold to professional bakers under those brands, as well as two plants located in Mansfield, Queensland, and Camellia, New South Wales.

Bakery rise in India

The middle classes are driving bakery growth in India, according to a new study on the future of the baking industry, reported national paper The Hindu. The paper revealed there was a market for relatively new products, such as crackers and pizza, and noted the opening of a number of new outlets of foreign bakery chains across the country.