BRITAIN'S consumers splashed over £811million on fresh beef steaks in the 52 weeks to August 8 2021, a rise of 11.26% over the same period the previous year.

The volume of fresh beef steaks sold was also up 9.64% year-on-year, according to the latest figures from Kantar. As well as steaks, other premium beef product ranges continued to attract shoppers, accounting for 5.6% of the total beef market, compared to 4.6% the year before.

At the same time, demand for cheaper beef products continued to wane, cementing a three-year trend. Economy beef accounted for 4.1% of all beef sold in the year to August 2021, down from 5.8% last year, 6.9% in 2019 and 7.3% in 2018.

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This premium beef growth bodes well for the World Steak Challenge, which returns on November 10 for its seventh year with official host partner Bord Bia.

Keith Fisher, a fourth-generation family butcher, Institute of Meat chief executive and World Steak Challenge advisor and judge, said: “During the lockdowns, people were restricted on where they could go and eating out became a ‘dine at home’ situation.”

“Many may have wanted to recreate that feel-good restaurant experience and upgraded to better quality beef steaks. I’m not surprised by the rise in steak sales, especially as there now seems to be a far greater number of really top quality, well-cut, well-trimmed steaks on display in stores.”

World Steak Challenge head of events, Ellie Knight, said: “There’s never been so much choice for the consumer. This is a trend we’ve seen with the World Steak Challenge which, this year, has had a record number of entries."

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