Fresh meat and poultry sales suffered year on year deficits in the 12 weeks to December 29th, according to latest figures from Kantar.
The report highlights significant drops for red meat, with year on year sales for beef falling by 3%, 3.9% for lamb and 4% for pork.
Poultry sales also suffered, as chicken sales dropped by 0.3% and turkey by 2.4%.
The report attributes the decline to shoppers buying fewer roasting cuts, with 113,000 fewer shoppers picking up roasting joints year on year.
Beef mince saw a steep drop off, losing 306,000 shoppers and beef roasting cuts also a seeing an 8% dip in sales in the 12 week period.
Despite a drop year on year, chicken was picked up on 3.6 million more shopping trips this year, attracting 127,000 more shoppers.
Market Analysis
Nathan Ward, business unit director for meat, fish and poultry, said: “Over the 12 weeks leading up to the end of the year, primary meat and poultry saw a loss of 15,000 shoppers year on year, but there was little sign of the meat free Christmas that some predicted. Volume sales were flat over Christmas, but with changes in the contents of shopping baskets. Fish volume sales came under pressure, and red meat volumes fell back over the period. Chicken saw strong volume growth, but this wasn’t matched by value sales. Beef sales in value terms dropped faster than volumes, as increased promotional support slowed volume decline.”
Ward continued: “Lamb and pork are seeing the strongest declines, but for different reasons. Lamb lost 380,000 shoppers this year, with roasting joints down overall ( 2%), but growth from shoulder joints offsetting some of the losses from lamb legs. More concerning were the steep losses in lamb steaks ( 14%) and stewing cuts ( 20%). Steaks continue to lose shoppers, 515,000 fewer year on year, as promotions are down by two thirds this year.
“Empty nesters and retired shoppers are the shopper groups which are propelling this decline, but all life stages are buying less. Stewing cuts see a stronger value decline as prices fall faster than volume sales, but there’s still 280,000 fewer trip s. Pork has seen 2.9 million fewer trips this year and is attracts 660,000 fewer shoppers. Leg ( 15%), loin ( 4%) and shoulder ( 17%) roasts are all down, with chops ( 9%) and steaks ( 16%) also seeing a strong decline. Overall, pork is seeing much less promotional support than other meats, with 32% less volume sold on promotion this year, making this a key factor in the decline of the key cuts.”
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.
