UK meat
A new strategic plan for the Welsh red meat industry has been created with the ultimate aim to increase sales by at least 34% to £776 million a year by 2020, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) has reported.
The 2020 plan also stated the industry should increase its share of Welsh agricultural output by at least 5% to £624m over the same period.
HCC said these increases would see the red meat industry help boost the entire Welsh food and farming industry by at least 14% in five years to £6.5bn.
The two main priorities of the strategic action plan are: to increase demand for Welsh red meat products, thereby increasing sales and returns; and to improve production efficiency, thereby increasing quality supply, while maintaining the environment and landscape of Wales.
“It’s now time for everyone in the industry to have their say about the future direction of the Welsh red meat sector,” said HCC chief executive Gwyn Howells. “I would urge everyone who cares about its future to take part in the consultation process.
“In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, it is important that we continue to be dynamic in further developing our industry.
“If we are to safeguard the long-term future of the red meat industry and sustain the sector’s contribution towards a thriving rural economy, then we must embrace the latest production and processing methods to enable us to compete effectively with our rivals.
“This is an ambitious plan, but I am confident that if the entire industry continues to work closely together we can meet these bold targets.”
Meanwhile, Welsh red meat has increased its share of the British retail market by £64m over a 10-year period.
“These targets can only be met if the entire supply chain – including farmers, processors and retailers – work in harmony to build on our previous success to ensure a long-term and viable future for everyone,” Howells concluded.
HCC reported it would now enter into an eight-week consultancy process to implement the plan.
“The poultry meat industry likes recessions,” according to Gary Ford, chief poultry advisor at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Speaking at last week’s AHDB Outlook conference, he told delegates that the price of poultry meat stands it in good stead in times of consumer hardship, although the industry has not been achieving growth purely on price.
Per capita consumption has been on the up since the 1990s, with prospects for the increasing global consumption of meat, between now and 2024, providing a positive outlook for the industry.
While he described campylobacter as a big threat to the industry – “we are on thin ice” – he said the influence of the Food Standards Agency’s name and shame campaign has only had a short-lived effect on sales. “Typically large integrators have noted a drop-off of 5%, but within four to five days of the announcement, that has returned to normal,” he explained.
There has been some evidence to suggest that newer sheds result in fewer cases of campylobacter, he explained. However, the UK has an old estate of sheds, with the average poultry shed age at 24 years, and 60% estimated to be more than 20 years-old.
Recent outbreaks of avian influenza have also been causing problems, with a number of countries, including South Africa, which takes 11% of UK poultry exports, imposing a ban on imports of UK poultry meat in the wake of the established bird flu cases in East Yorkshire and, more recently, Hampshire.