NPA praises Aldi for boosting pork sales
The National Pig Association (NPA) has praised Aldi for boosting sales of pork at a time when British pig farmers are suffering their second year of poor returns.
The discounter, which sells 100% British fresh pork, reported a volumes sales increase of over 10% last month.
Leg and shoulder joints sold particularly well, partly because of the English pig industry’s Pulled Pork adverts on peak-time television, but mainly due to Aldi’s competitive pricing strategy.
According to NPA chief executive, Dr Zoe Davies, Aldi’s support could be pivotal in stopping the low farmgate prices falling further.
“British pig farmers are struggling with their lowest real-terms prices in 16 years, and some will have to quit this year if things don’t improve,” said NPA chairman Richard Lister, a pig farmer in North Yorkshire. “So we are particularly encouraged by this latest news from Aldi.
“The causes of these low prices are beyond our control so we rely on retailers to help us through this difficult period by putting more British pork on their shelves, particularly in the form of convenience meals, and promoting it strongly to improve sales.”
According to NPA chief executive Dr Zoe Davies, Aldi’s support could be pivotal in stopping the low farmgate price for British pigs plunging producers even further into the red and has welcomed the measures being taken by the discounter to increase mid-week pork sales.
Initiatives from Aldi include moving ready-to-cook gammon-and-honey from europork to British pork, whilst increasing the pack size but holding the price at its previous level. In January and February the company also launched eight pork promotions including sausages, large packs of pork medallions, slow-cooked gammon shanks, and pork fillet with apple butter.
The retailer has more new products planned for the next couple of months, including porchetta belly joint, sausage casserole, pork and sweet chilli sausages and pork shanks banded with rosemary.
And for Christmas 2016, it plans to add another British gammon joint to its range and has pledged all accompaniments, such as bacon-wrapped-sausages, will again be sourced from British farms.
“Aldi recognises the importance of the independently-audited welfare and traceability standards that underpin the quality of British pork, and shoppers are responding by buying more,” added Lister. “It’s support like this that encourages us to struggle on until the price we receive once again covers our costs of production.”
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