The latest Meat, Fish and Poultry (MFP) figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 16th August 2015, have seen beef and fish avoiding deflation, with smaller areas, driven by duck posting strong growth.
Kantar reports barbecue consumption is down 8% annually and sausages, burgers and grills are all seeing value sales fall back.
Nathan Ward, business unit director for Meat, Fish & Poultry at Kantar explained: “There is much more to a barbecue than burgers and sausages, with chicken present in over 40% of barbecue occasions.” Despite the summer slump, National Burger Day in August could help stimulate sales in the next update, contributing to the positive annual picture for burgers.
Poultry
Deflation is still having a huge effect on fresh meat and poultry, with chicken seeing strong deflation with prices down 5% driven by the whole birds and breast sectors.
Fresh chicken is seeing lower promotional levels, with the move from multibuys to temporary price reductions driving deeper discounts.
Lamb and pork
Lamb and pork continue to struggle in value and volume terms with roasting, frying and grilling key areas of decline in both. Beef is continuing to see trading up as value increases ahead of volume with shoppers buying beef more often over the last 12 weeks. Beef value growth is driven by the more premium products of steaks and marinades, with frying and grilling an area of strength for beef. Strong growth is coming from veal, venison, mixed protein mince and a resurgent duck sector. Duck has seen shopper numbers rise by 37% compared to last year and rising prices helping to drive value ahead of volume.
The next data release will be out in four weeks time.
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.
