Supermarkets urged to keep beef and lamb supply steady
Supermarkets can make a positive contribution in 2016 by ensuring a steady and consistent flow of lamb and beef to their shelves, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) chairman Dai Davies told an audience at the opening of the Royal Welsh Winter Fair, Llanelwedd.
HCC chairman Dai Davies: “It is vital that our local butcher’s shops and, crucially, our supermarket outlets step up to the plate and stock, promote and sell our PGI branded products.”
“Collective responsibility for delivery is the only way forward and it is vital that our local butcher’s shops and, crucially, our supermarket outlets step up to the plate and stock, promote and sell our PGI branded products,” said Davies.
He continued: “I believe our multiple retailers increasingly understand that they have to balance a moral responsibility for the domestic economy with a commercial necessity, to maintain a consistent supply to their customers and avoid, however tempting, the short term opportunistic returns that provoke the shattering shards and spikes of oversupply that puncture prices and splinter our industry. Collectively we all have a role in finding a workable supply solution.
“We know only too well inside the agricultural industry the turbulence created by living and working in the global marketplace. Apart from the hugely influential exchange rate issue, supply fluctuations and market manoeuvrings have allowed cheaper imports, principally from New Zealand, to replace our premium, PGI branded products for the prime places on the supermarket shelves.”
In his speech, Davies did however add that the global marketplace also offered huge opportunities for the advancement of high quality, premium products such as PGI Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef. “Industry experts say there will be a little less production in Australia and New Zealand in 2016 because of adverse climate impacts and that may have a positive effect on prices here for a while.”
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