Can the lamb sector recover from a year of plummeting sales?

There’s no sugar-coating this: the past 12 months have been pretty dire for the lamb sector. Volume sales have plummeted by 20% year-on-year, with value sales down 6% to £568.7m. [Kantar Worldpanel 52w/e 19 February 2012].

The problems are well known - a combination of falling herd sizes in the UK and New Zealand and growing export demand from emerging markets has pushed up retail prices by 16% year-on-year, steering shoppers away from lamb and towards other meats such as poultry and pork.

If that isn’t bad enough, producers have also had the Schmallenberg virus to contend with, which - although limited in its impact on UK lambs to date - has the potential to make a further dent in the British sheep herd. It’s little wonder the mood in the sector is downbeat. “If we’re not careful, lamb could become a forgotten meat,” warns Eblex trade marketing manager Mike Whittemore. “I wouldn’t say we’re in desperate straits yet, but this is a situation that needs addressing now.”

So what is the sector doing to make 2012 the year lamb turns around its fortunes?

For trade bodies Eblex and HCC Wales, pushing a wider variety of lamb cuts is a big part of the answer. HCC revamped its consumer-facing lamb website last year, adding more recipes to highlight a wider range of cuts, and it ran a £800,000 campaign to encourage consumers to experiment with more unusual cuts.

The trade needs to ensure it highlights affordable lamb products to consumers, agrees Whittemore. “Mince in particular is a cheaper way to get lamb into shoppers’ baskets,” he says. “We need to educate consumers that there are more ways to use lamb mince than just in moussaka.”

There are also untapped opportunities around lamb shoulder, Whittemore believes. Sales of pork shoulder soared after celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver championed its use, and this could be replicated in the lamb sector, he says.

As part of a lamb campaign this summer, Eblex is planning to publish a new recipe booklet for consumers. It is also working hard to convince retailers to embrace new leg and shoulder cuts - such as “mini leg roasts” - which are smaller and therefore more affordable than traditional leg and shoulder portions.

Overcoming lamb’s high per-kilo price by offering smaller portions is a strategy that is already working for Silver Fern Farms, which supplies a range of branded New Zealand lamb portions to Tesco. General manager John Whitlam says lower retail prices are key to reviving interest.

“But it’s also about the work we do - we make sure our products are lean, we have really attractive packaging and we provide a lot of information to consumers about how to cook lamb,” he adds.

Whittemore agrees presentation is key and admits the wider sector still has a lot to learn. “The trade needs to get its act together on presentation,” he says. “We haven’t changed our ways in 20 years.”

To address this - and other - issues, Eblex will soon launch a three-year strategy to get the lamb sector “back on track”. There is even talk of a joint marketing campaign between British and New Zealand producers. “It’s still very early days and these are discussions only, but there’s a recognition that something needs to be done,” says Whittemore.

Joined-up marketing could certainly help. With prices likely to stay high, the lamb industry has some challenging times ahead of it. If 2012 is indeed going to mark the beginning of a turnaround for lamb, the sector will need all the support it can get.