Cattle, sheep and pig slaughtering businesses in Wales contribute £461 million every year to the Welsh economy but need investment backing to sustain performance, says a Hybu Cig Cymru-Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) sectoral analysis.
Industry throughput is dominated by large abattoirs at just under 90%, but the remaining small and medium abattoirs play a significant part in supporting local communities, the rural economy and enabling local food businesses and sourcing.
The analysis report from HCC’s, titled Assessment of Capacity in the Welsh Red Meat Slaughtering Industry, flags up a number of challenges that face the red meat industry in Wales, some of which have a substantial impact on the future resilience, performance and profitability of the abattoir sector.
Challenges
These challenges include declining livestock numbers; regulatory compliance; limited plant infrastructure (specifically chillers); and a decreasing value of hides, skins and offal.
Other potential problems comprise a shortage of skilled slaughter and butchery workers; disposal generally outweighing margins in by-product disposal arrangements; limitations on succession planning and its impacts on business development; and limitations of customer base.
The HCC report calculates cattle throughput through Welsh abattoirs in 2014 was 120,400 head, worth approximately £186 million. Sheep throughput was 3.4 million head worth approximately £271 million and pig throughput 32,900 head worth approximately £4 million.
The report sums up that the Welsh red meat slaughtering industry is therefore calculated to be contributing approximately £461 million per annum to the Welsh economy demonstrating the significance of the sector.
It also points out that the Welsh red meat slaughtering industry has for many years faced a continuing underlying problem of fluctuating, and at times low, profitability.
Underinvestment
HCC says that the sector as a whole suffers from underinvestment at a time when investment requirements are growing, whether to meet hygiene requirements, or retailer as well as consumer demands for more innovative convenience foods.
The report estimates that the maximum combined capacity of the abattoirs slaughtering cattle, sheep and pigs in Wales is approximately 17%, 41-72% and 32% respectively over current utilisation. It also emphasises that these projections are heavily dependent on market, commercial and individual business influences and trends.
The report concludes that the challenges the industry is facing will have a substantial impact on the future resilience, performance and profitability of the sector.
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.
