February 2016 recorded a year-on-year improvement in UK sales of fresh/frozen pork but also served to highlight the continuing loss of value for the sector, according to AHDB Pork.
Based on data from Kantar Worldpanel, the four weeks to February 28 saw a 3% rise in sales volume for pork while, at the same time, the amount spent on purchasing pork fell by 5%.
“This was due to the average price falling by 8% on a year earlier,” said AHDB Pork, noting that, even so, it was still encouraging to be able to report a volume increase, given that pork has been a “declining market” for over a year.
In looking at individual products, AHDB Pork highlighted the fact that roasting joints saw a significant increase in volume sales over the four-week period, with loin and shoulder joints up by 19% and 17% respectively, both on a year earlier.
“This time period captured the start of the latest AHDB Pulled Pork campaign, so there is an inference that this may have had a positive impact on sales of shoulder roasting joints and could have helped other roasting joints,” said AHDB Pork, promising that a more detailed analysis of the impact of the campaign will be available in due course.
“Pork chilled main meal accompaniments, which also included some pulled pork products, recorded an increase in volume sales over the same time period, rising by 48%, albeit from a relatively small base.”