Trade gossip and a few published statistics have recently suggested the multiples' share of the red meat market may have stopped growing. MLC's new issue of Meat Demand Trends includes Taylor Nelson Sofres figures challenging this. Tesco alone appears to have overtaken the entire independent butchers' sector. Similar continuing growth is claimed for the multiples' bacon and poultry market shares. These figures beg questions about the trend of retail red meat sales relative to added value meat product purchases and the catering sector's performance, but they seem to answer allegations by some cattle producers and smaller abattoir operators who claim supermarkets are losing touch with consumer demand for very high quality beef. {{MEAT }}

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