UK

Both meat production and consumption in the UK will be stable this year

UK's pork, beef, and lamb productions will be stable this year, as well as the meat consumption among the British population, Jean-Pierre Garnier, head of AHDB Exports told Euromeatnews.com.

Posted on Oct 07 ,07:00

 

Pork production is very stable with a production expected to reach 898,000 tonnes this year. Furthermore, UK meat imports will rise to 992,000 tonnes of pork, the exports will be 264,000 tonnes and an intake of 1,626,000 tonnes, AHDB predicted in 2017.

Regarding beef, the beef situation is also stable with strong demand for steak cuts and mince products. Production is expected to be around 885,000 tonnes, imports 424,000 tonnes and exports 149,000 tonnes in 2017.

„For lamb and mutton, the fall of New Zealand exports affected consumption estimated down to 295,000 tonnes this year. Production is forecast to increase slightly to 299,000 tonnes”, added Mr. Garnier.

For the time being, it looks like the habits of British consumers will not vary in the near future.

According to AHDB Consumer Tracker, the majority of the British people are eating about the same level of red meat (74%), while there are some who are eating less (19%).

In the past years, the reasons for the declines in meat consumption were price related, with consumers facing notable price rises over the past five to ten years. But in the last two year, Mr. Garnier explains, health has taken a centre stage.

"More recently the industry has become more familiar with the term ‘flexitarian’, which can have differing definitions associated. One way Kantar Worldpanel identify
this group is measuring those who are eating less red meat for health reasons," Mr. Garnier said.

Nearly 7% of the British population eats less red meat for health reasons. Furthermore, according to the Vegan Society, only 1.05% of the UK population claims to be vegan and about 5% follow a vegetarian diet according to Kantar.

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