Lamb eating
in the UK has grown for the first time in over three years.
According to KantarWorldPanel data for the 12 weeks ending 10th June volume sales of
lamb grew by 16%. This reverses a severe downward trend, with sales at one time
looking as if they were in free fall. Indeed, annual sales of fresh and frozen
lamb through supermarkets have dropped from around 101,000 tonnes in 2008 to
70,000 tonnes today. (Source: World panel/EBLEX).
Renewed
growth is welcome news to sheep farmers for the halcyon days of high lamb
prices caused by the weakness of the £ versus the euro are behind us at least
for the foreseeable future, and a strong domestic demand is needed to ensure
that prices do not fall to unsustainable levels.
Predictably,
the main reason for higher consumption is a drop in retail price. In the 12
weeks under review the average price of a kilo of lamb reduced from £8.22p to
£8.08p as supermarkets promoted the product over Easter and in the run up to
the Jubilee. Sales were also helped by the rocketing price of beef in the
shops. The gap between the average price of a kilo of beef versus lamb has
narrowed to around £1 a kilo versus £1.92 a year ago.
£8 a kilo is
not cheap. Lamb remains a premium priced product out of the reach of many. And
there has been sobering news on the premium food front. According to Kantar World panel, sales of supermarket own brand premium ranges, like Sainsbury’s
Taste the Difference or Tesco’s Finest, have declined for the first time since
2008. It had seemed that consumers were willing, despite the general price of
food rising, to keep buying premium food as long as they felt the quality
justified the price. Now they are thinking twice, and in the last 12 weeks
sales of premium own brand ranges have dropped by 6%. By contrast, sales of
value ranges have soared, up 13%.
Further
signs of belt tightening come in the form of below inflation sales through
supermarkets – down 0.7% in June 2012 compared with June 2011, and the well
documented performance of discounters Aldi and Lidl who continue to grow, up
26% and 11% respectively.
The increase
in lamb eating is good news, and it is hoped but not expected that supermarkets
will keep the price of lamb at these lower levels to encourage consumption.
What is urgently
needed is a total rethink about the way lamb is marketed so that product
quality is consistently superb, the type of cuts offered and advice about how
to cook them are imaginative and relevant, and lamb becomes a worthwhile buy in
the eyes of more consumers.
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