Spend and volume decreased for all three categories in the 12 weeks to 11th July 2021, however figures are up compared to the same period in 2019.
According to AHDB's GB household purchases dashboard, spend on beef fell by 9.2% compared to the same period in 2020 and volumes declined by 9.4%. This is in comparison to the first lockdown period and red meat growth has slowed. Compared to two years ago, however, total beef volumes are up by 5.4%.
Primary beef volumes declined by 14.6%, driven primarily by mince but with all other primary cuts also falling. Mince has returned to volume levels seen in 2019. Processed beef saw volumes decrease by 12.2%, mostly accounted for by burgers and grills.
Mixed fortunes for lamb and pork
In the same period, spend on lamb declined 4.3% compared to last year and volumes fell by 6.1%. Lamb had been defying the trend of slowing red meat growth but fell into decline this quarter for the first time in a year. However, like beef, total lamb volumes have increased since 2019, by 1.4%.
Roasting joints have contributed the most to an 11.2% decline in primary lamb, having been the biggest driver of growth before Easter. Processed lamb has seen growth of 6.3% through increases in burgers and grills, which were driven by existing shoppers buying them more often.
Pork has followed a similar pattern - decreases of 7.6% on spend and 7.4% on volume in the 12 weeks to 11th July, but with total pork volumes up by 7.7% compared to 2019.
Processed pigmeat volumes fell by 10.9%, although bacon and sausage volumes remain up 9% and 8.1% respectively compared to the same period two years ago.
Ready-to-cook pork products rose by 38.3% due to an increase in new buyers.
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.
