LMC Report: Improved Steak Demand In 2010
NORTHERN IRELAND, UK - The latest consumer demand figures for Great Britain for the four weeks ending 13 June 2010 from Kantar Worldpanel, provide a valuable insight into beef demand in GB in the last month.The figures show that in the month ending 13 June the average price of beef was one per cent higher than it was in the same period last year. This led to a decline of almost one per cent in volume of beef purchased by consumers meaning total expenditure on those purchases was virtually the same as in the same period last year. While this year-on-year comparison shows stability, it is worth noting that expenditure in the four weeks ending 13 June is around 10 per cent lower than the previous month as demand for beef continues its usual seasonal decline.
In those four weeks, as illustrated by the chart below, over 50 per cent of beef was sold as mince while the bulk of the remaining sales was accounted for by roasting joints and frying / grilling steaks (see Figure 1). In terms of expenditure, frying / grilling cuts accounted for 34 per cent of sales with mince accounting for almost 40 per cent, reflecting the higher price of steaks (see Figure 2 below).
With this in mind, the increased volumes of frying /grilling steaks sold in the four weeks ending 13 June 2010, (compared to the same period in the previous year) is bound to generate some encouragement in the industry. The increased sales of steak was driven to some extent by a slight reduction (-1.1 per cent) in the price. As a result volume steak sales were up by eight per cent with expenditure on these frying/grilling cuts up by seven per cent compared to the same period last year (mainly at the expense of roasting joints where spend was down by 10 per cent). It is possible of course that this increase has also been driven by some non-price factors, such as better weather this May / June which will have driven up steak sales at every price level.
While it appears that consumers have responded to lower steak prices etc, it would appear that mince sales have been less responsive to a change in price. Retail mince prices were up by 1.1 per cent over the four weeks ending 13 June. This increase led to a proportionate reduction in demand (-0.9 per cent), meaning that expenditure on mince was about the same as last year (+0.2 per cent).
This static expenditure on mince contrasted with a sharp downturn in spend on roasting and stewing cuts compared to the same period last year. However, overall beef expenditure in GB held up due to the increased sales of mince and steaks, which accounted for more than two thirds of beef sales last month.
Further Reading
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