According to AHDB Beef and Lamb non-traditional EU markets will be key to developing UK sheep meat exports.
Volume shipments to Poland, Norway, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have more than doubled since 2010 and, while these markets still only represent 3% of UK exports to member states, AHDB Beef and Lamb has identified them as important for future growth.
Jean-Pierre Garnier, export manager AHDB Beef and Lamb, said: “Our traditional European export markets for sheep meat – France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy Spain and Portugal – still account for 97% of our exports to member states. However, with UK production increasing and these markets not showing growth in recent years, it’s imperative for us to look for opportunities in new markets and our plans are to increase these to 10% of total exports of lamb.
“Poland has a tradition of lamb consumption and there has been more consumer interest in lamb over the last 18 months, which is something the UK sheep meat sector can capitalise on.”
Garnier added: “Importantly, Poland, Sweden and Denmark are interested in importing cuts, rather than whole carcases, which adds value to the carcase and benefits the whole UK supply chain.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
