The price of this week’s basket of meat and fish has been largely dictated by salmon’s return to its usual price following a period of heavy discounting before Christmas.
The overall basket therefore shows a month-on-month increase, despite many of the items having in fact dropped in price.
Salmon fillets climbed 20% to £10.68 per kilo. Rather than being a price hike, the increase was “a return to more regular pricing after a period of well-publicised promotional activity”, according to one salmon industry source.
It follows heavy discounts in the run-up to Christmas to encourage consumers to keep the fish on their festive menu.
In contrast with salmon, the price of whole trout has fallen in price by 5.9% to £5.15 per kilo.
And while skinless chicken breast fillets increased marginally in price, by 0.4% to £11.38 per kilo, whole free-range chickens dropped 6.8% in price to £3.58 per kilo. The price decrease appears to reflect new promotions on free-range chicken, according to a spokesman at 2 Sisters Food Group.
“While consumers understand that inflation will continue to fall, the mentality at the moment is to cut spending as much as possible,” he said.
The promotions are an example of retailers encouraging shoppers to continue to support the products Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver encouraged them to buy into last year – a welcome boost for the sub-sector in the current economic climate.
Three of the four pork products in our basket have dropped in price since last month, with the fourth, unsmoked back bacon, showing no change.
Despite concerns that the Irish pork dioxin scare would result in higher pork prices, there has been little impact on prices, according to head of marketing at Bpex, Chris Lamb.
Next month’s basket could yield some very interesting results, however, with Jamie Oliver’s programme on the British pig industry due to air on 29 January. At the moment, nobody knows what Oliver will say about the industry. If the celebrity chef chooses to endorse a particular cut of pork or method of production, it could have a real impact on both pork sales and prices.
Although the price of lamb chops has increased 20.4% year-onyear, it has increased only 0.5% month-on-month. Annual imports of New Zealand lamb will soon be arriving in the UK to supplement the availability of home-produced lamb before British spring lamb comes on to the market.
Since last year’s New Zealand lamb season there have been considerable fluctuations in the currency markets, which could have a bearing on the pricing of imported meat this year. However, this will depend on when deals between New Zealand lamb producers and UK retailers were struck, and in which currency.
Beef sirloin steak dropped 5.4% in price compared with last month, to £13.63. The reduction was a sign retailers were “trying to encourage people back into the market after Christmas,” said Lamb.
However, there was no change in the price of lean beef streak mince, while organic beef mince increased slightly, up 2.9%.
The overall basket therefore shows a month-on-month increase, despite many of the items having in fact dropped in price.
Salmon fillets climbed 20% to £10.68 per kilo. Rather than being a price hike, the increase was “a return to more regular pricing after a period of well-publicised promotional activity”, according to one salmon industry source.
It follows heavy discounts in the run-up to Christmas to encourage consumers to keep the fish on their festive menu.
In contrast with salmon, the price of whole trout has fallen in price by 5.9% to £5.15 per kilo.
And while skinless chicken breast fillets increased marginally in price, by 0.4% to £11.38 per kilo, whole free-range chickens dropped 6.8% in price to £3.58 per kilo. The price decrease appears to reflect new promotions on free-range chicken, according to a spokesman at 2 Sisters Food Group.
“While consumers understand that inflation will continue to fall, the mentality at the moment is to cut spending as much as possible,” he said.
The promotions are an example of retailers encouraging shoppers to continue to support the products Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver encouraged them to buy into last year – a welcome boost for the sub-sector in the current economic climate.
Three of the four pork products in our basket have dropped in price since last month, with the fourth, unsmoked back bacon, showing no change.
Despite concerns that the Irish pork dioxin scare would result in higher pork prices, there has been little impact on prices, according to head of marketing at Bpex, Chris Lamb.
Next month’s basket could yield some very interesting results, however, with Jamie Oliver’s programme on the British pig industry due to air on 29 January. At the moment, nobody knows what Oliver will say about the industry. If the celebrity chef chooses to endorse a particular cut of pork or method of production, it could have a real impact on both pork sales and prices.
Although the price of lamb chops has increased 20.4% year-onyear, it has increased only 0.5% month-on-month. Annual imports of New Zealand lamb will soon be arriving in the UK to supplement the availability of home-produced lamb before British spring lamb comes on to the market.
Since last year’s New Zealand lamb season there have been considerable fluctuations in the currency markets, which could have a bearing on the pricing of imported meat this year. However, this will depend on when deals between New Zealand lamb producers and UK retailers were struck, and in which currency.
Beef sirloin steak dropped 5.4% in price compared with last month, to £13.63. The reduction was a sign retailers were “trying to encourage people back into the market after Christmas,” said Lamb.
However, there was no change in the price of lean beef streak mince, while organic beef mince increased slightly, up 2.9%.
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