Prawns were the most popular big-ticket item on Christmas dinner tables across Australia this year with abundant supplies and discount pricing making them more accessible than ever.Woolworths said seafood sales broke records across their 890 stores around the country.
''It was our biggest single day for seafood ever," said Woolworths spokesman Benedict Brook.
"Prawns were the standout item with customers as they were in abundance, they were larger than last year and they were well priced."
Woolworths offered large Australian king prawns for $16.99kg, a discount of $4.50 off the normal price and mediums for $14.99kg, a $4 reduction.
Coles reported selling 400 tonnes of prawns in Christmas week.
"A mammoth 70 per cent of the year's supply of prawns was bought on Christmas Eve," Coles spokesman Jon Church said.
Fresh fruit, particularly berries, cherries and grapes, were also big sellers at supermarkets.
Woolworths said Christmas Eve was also its biggest trading day for fresh food this year.
Coles reported shoppers bought 23 million tonnes of Australian-grown fresh fruit and vegies at stores nationally over the Christmas week.
That's about 40 per cent up on a normal week.
Coles said 1.8 million punnets of Australian berries, nearly half a million kilograms of cherries and almost one million kilograms of grapes were sold in the lead up to Christmas Day.
Demand for ham also skyrocketed as expected, with shoppers buying two million kilograms of Australian ham at Coles.
It's also been a Christmas for sweets, too, with Woolworths adding that luxury puddings and traditional pavlovas also sold well.
