Supermarkets have a limited ability to raise the retail price of lamb, a buyer with one of the world's largest retailers says reports The ODT. Sam Pearl, the chilled-lamb buyer with British supermarket company Tesco, told farmers at a sheep and beef forum organised by SFF in Gore last week that, individually, supermarkets were small players in marketing sheep meat.
Several farmers told Mr Pearl that unless farm-gate prices for lamb improved, there would be a further decline in the number of lambs available for them to sell. Mr Pearl stressed it was not in the interest of Tesco for farmers not to make money. The solution to farmer profitability was for supermarkets, processors and farmers to work together to extract more value through developing new markets and doing things in a different way.
A decade ago, Tesco's lamb offering was confined to legs, joints and shoulders. Today, it sold $NZ320 million a year of chilled lamb with a product mix that included chops, steaks, mince and joints along with ingredients, in organic, finest and Halal categories. Mr Pearl said Tesco last year increased sales of chilled lamb by 12% compared with the year before, through promotions, but also by introducing more people to it.
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