Strong UK red meat sales to 26 January

Retail demand in the UK for beef increased again in the latest Kantar data published by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) which covers the 12-week period to 26 January 2025.

Beef purchases increased by 0.7% in volume compared with the same 12-week period last year, while total spend for the period increased by 5.8%.

This was due to the combination of shoppers buying more and average price increasing.

In the 52 weeks to 26 January, retail volume sales of beef increased by 0.4%, with spend increasing by 4.6%. Again, this reflects the combination of shoppers buying more beef and average prices increasing.

Breakdown of sales

While overall beef sales increased in volume and value, demand varied between the different cuts of beef.

In the 12 weeks to 26 January, the volume of steak sales increased by 3.7% and the average retail price increased by a relatively modest 4.7%.

Diced beef sales increased by almost 8% in volume. Undoubtedly the flat retail price - which increased by just 0.4% - was part of the attraction.

Mince is the largest volume beef product sold in retail and sales in the 12 weeks to 26 January increased by 2%, while the average price increased by 3.4% compared with the same period last year.

The losers in the most recent 12-week period were stewing and roasting beef sales.

Volume of stewing beef was down 6.4%, while roast beef volume sales fell by 4.5%.

The average retail price of roast beef was 20% higher than in the same 12-week period last year, reflecting less significant promotional activity.

Lamb performance

While there was a dip in lamb volume sales in the 12 weeks to 26 January of 4.1% to 23,000 tonnes compared with the same period last year, sales for the previous 52 weeks were up 3.7% to 87,000 tonnes.

Despite volumes being down over the 12-week period, spend was marginally higher, up 0.3%, and the retail average price was 4.7% higher compared with the same 12-week period last year.

Looking at the 52-week data with sales volume up 3.7% and higher retail prices, it is unsurprising that consumer spend was up 6.9% to £950m (€1.2bn).

Roasting cuts, which are primarily lamb legs, account for 44% of total lamb or 64% of primary lamb. They struggled in the recent 12-week period, with volume down 8.7%, while consumer spend was down 3.7% due to higher retail prices.

Retail lamb leg roast prices increased by 3.3% year on year to £10.86/kg, the equivalent of €13.10/kg.

With farmgate prices rising sharply in recent weeks, there is plenty of comment in the industry about beef and lamb getting too expensive to retain consumer loyalty.

So far, this hasn’t been the case and both beef and lamb sales over the past year have been stronger than for several years.

However, a note of caution. There is usually a lag of several weeks, often stretching into months, for change in farmgate prices to filter through to retail prices.

A further increase in retail prices may be in the pipeline, but, in the meantime, retail demand is underpinning farmgate prices for both beef and sheepmeat.

*This article was amended in late February due to an error in reporting AHDB/Kantar data.

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