Carrefour gives lamb a lift in tough times in Europe for UK processors

Published on Monday 12 October 2009 18:56

AMONG the hubbub and noise created by 756 meat suppliers trying to trade their wares at the giant food fair Anuga in Cologne yesterday, the newly-elected president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers admitted: "It is tough out there."

Alan Craig said the tight margins in the beef and lamb sectors made it difficult for processors. That did not mean his members were backing off from trading in Europe; quite the opposite. When there were opportunities in the beef commodity market, they would take them. The quality end of the market was more assured and long term.

The market for Scotch Lamb in France and Spain has been well established for many years, but Craig said that this season had been "as difficult as any in the past decade. The problem is the French market is easily accessed by other producers and it is easy to topple the market.

"When there is a bit of profit to be made, others come in," he said. Even when the currency swings in favour of the UK, everyone trades up and the margin is lost.

Agreeing with Craig's assessment of the difficult nature of the market was Paul Finnerty, the head man at Irish Food Processors, which operates 11 meat plants in the UK, including two in Scotland through its UK meat division company, ABP. The subsidiary has an annual turnover of close to 1 billion.

He pointed out that red meat consumption has dropped 4 per cent in the past 12 months in Europe. Consumers appear to have continued their migration to white meat as both Germany and the Netherlands are reporting record per capita levels of poultry consumption.

The much heralded problem at home is the decline in both sheep and cattle numbers; a position which will not be rectified in Craig's eyes until "potent" changes are made to the subsidy regime.

Referring to the review of the single farm payment being carried out on behalf of the Scottish Government by his predecessor as chief executive at ANM, Brian Pack, Craig said he hoped any changes would not be diluted to such an extent that they will lose their potency.

It was against this difficult trading background that one of the world's largest supermarket groups was recognised for its support of Scotch Lamb.

The Belgian arm of global retail giant Carrefour took the award from secretary for rural affairs Richard Lochhead on the Quality Meat Scotland stand.

Carrefour is one of Belgium's leading supermarkets, with more than 593 stores throughout the country. It has been identifying and promoting PGI- marqued Scotch Lamb since 2004, and sells about 30 tonnes of the product each month.

Lochhead said: "What lifts Scottish meat above our competitors is that our beef, lamb and pork is underpinned by stringent quality assurance standards."

Head of marketing for Quality Meat Scotland, Laurent Vernet, who is leading a Scottish delegation of ten exporters to Anuga, said: "Carrefour has done a great job in Belgium at helping develop the awareness of Scotch Lamb and the guarantees offered by its PGI status.

"It was one of the first supermarkets to stock, promote and identify Scotch Lamb and is still the only one outside of the UK to do so at a national level.

&#149 Scottish ingredients will be used at the next chefs' Olympics with both Scotch lamb and Scottish seafood being central to the meals prepared by the world's top chefs at Bocuse d'Or in Lyon in January 2011. This is the first time that one country has supplied the two main courses at this prestigious event.