Gammon and British cheeses such as stilton were the big meat and dairy winners over the Christmas period, analysis of industry data by AHDB has revealed.
Gammon and the wider pork category struggled in 2024, with NIQ data for The Grocer’s Top Products survey showing 4.2 million fewer kilos of the pigmeats sold, amid a big jump (13.5% and 6.4% respectively) in average price, as shoppers opted instead for chicken and a resurgent beef and lamb category.
However, that decline reversed in the run-up to Christmas, as total grocery sales surpassed £13bn for the first time, with Kantar data [4 w/e 29 December] showing a significant uptick in sales for gammon in particular.
Volumes of gammon roasting joints sold in December represented 24.4% of the subcategory’s total 2024 sales, said AHDB retail and consumer insight manager Emma Wantling, “demonstrating the importance of this offering to Christmas festivities”.
This helped year-on-year volumes for gammon roasting joints increase by 1.4%, despite a 1.3% fall in promotions, Wantling added.
Sales of whole turkeys also performed strongly, with year-on-year volumes climbing by 2.4%, helped by lower prices across the category, as promos increased by 7.6%. Chicken sales were also up, with volumes climbing by 2.3% against a 5.4% increase in promos, AHDB’s analysis revealed.
But despite strong showings during the year, festive sales of beef and lamb roasting joints were down 2.6% and 3.6% respectively.
Wantling pointed to an 18.9% fall in festive promos for lamb roasting joints as the key driver in its volume drop, but stressed lamb still significantly outperformed its sales in 2021 and 2022.
Beef roasting joints also saw a big drop-off in promos (down 5.8%), though Wantling pointed out the wider primary beef category saw an increase in volumes of 1.8% year on year.
This was driven by good performance for beef mince (up 5.0%), beef steak (3.2%) and diced beef (6.1%). Total processed beef also performed well with a 2.3% increase, driven by burgers (up 9.4%). “These results suggest that beef offerings were key to consumer meal repertoires in the run-up to Christmas delivering on both enjoyment and value for money,” she said.
For dairy, AHDB said total volumes were down 5.3%, but it was a mixed picture, with cow cheese (up 3.3%) and yoghurt (4.3%) showing positive growth, according to AHDB analysis of NIQ Homescan data [2 w/e 28 December].
Cheddar enjoyed a 3.8% year-on-year increase in sales, while stilton and British blue cheese volumes were up 15%, continuing stilton’s recent social media and Gen Z-led revival.
“Volumes of stilton and British blue cheese sold during December represented 23.7% of total volumes for 2024, reinforcing the importance of this type of cheese to Christmas celebrations,” Wantling said.
No comments yet