Falls in retail prices of beef and lamb are leading to soaring consumption and with strong supply coming down the pipeline for the next three years, Meat & Livestock Australia is looking to ride the wave for all it's worth.
The levy-payer funded organisation charged with marketing for the red meat industry has launched a new campaign pairing up beef and lamb as iconic, affordable and delicious.
Since mid-September, the retail price for lamb has fallen 13.6 per cent and for beef 6.4pc, which has led to a surge in sales. Lamb is up more than 17pc and beef 7.7pc, according to data from NielsonIQ Homescan.
MLA's domestic marketing manager Graeme Yardy said that trend was expected to continue through until Christmas.
The ad features big personalities - iconic 'lambassador' and ex-AFL star Sam Kekovich and ex-Brisbane Broncos NRL player Sam Thaiday. One Sam is for lamb, the other for beef but they realise it's worth it to put their differences in both football codes and red meat choice aside because beef and lamb go so well together.
It will be run out on digital platforms in a bid to drive 'sharability' and ignite the stakeholder base - producers - to share it.
Soaring sales
There are some big headlines in the latest red meat retail performance data, with MLA markets analyst Ripley Atkinson pointing to total volume and volume-per-trip purchases as highlights.
Volume per trip to the shops has lifted 5.4pc for beef and 9.2pc for lamb.
"That is strong growth - consumers are seeing prices coming down and buying more of both beef and lamb," Mr Atkinson said.
Despite prices being down, the increase in volume has generated more overall value
The total purchase value for beef is up 0.9pc and for lamb 1.2pc on the same period last year.
A total of 83pc of households in Australia now buy beef and 53pc lamb.
Mr Atkinson said with the cattle herd at its highest level in a decade, big volumes of beef would be produced over the next few years. High carcase weights were also driving the increase, he said.
"More beef and lamb is going to be available moving forward, regardless of the weather, so seeing consumers react so strongly already to the higher volumes is good news," he said.
Mr Yardy said the strong response had been across all demographics.
He said retailers were aware that red meat was a category where shoppers can be shifted.
"Red meat is something consumers deeply care about and will search out," he said.
"Very few people shop in just one retailer anymore so supermarkets are always looking to capture more share and red meat is one way they can do that."
Thus, a solid red meat offering was important to supermarkets and that was auguring well for the industry.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
