Christmas turkey slump – lamb and chicken benefit for sales

Consumers switched away from the poultry and favoured other meats, new figures suggest – the data from retail specialists, Kantar, showed that consumers across GB spent £2.7m less on turkey crowns and joints, compared with the previous Christmas period.

The main beneficiaries of the shift in buying attitudes were chicken and lamb, with £1.2m more spent on lamb in December, 2022. There's speculation that the decline in turkey sales over the festive period may have been caused by the UK's ongoing bird flu crisis, which had seen over 600,000 turkeys culled.

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Responding to Kantar's data, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) – has hailed the positive figures for lamb. The levy board's research showed consumers switched away from turkey in 2022.

HCC head of strategic marketing, Laura Pickup, said: “The focus of our marketing campaigns for PGI Welsh Lamb was to encourage people to try a ‘new Christmas tradition’, with strong promotions for festive recipes with lamb across a range of media.

“It’s pleasing to see that this, alongside promotions by retailers, has had an impact in what is a difficult retail environment for premium proteins where shoppers are feeling the squeeze on living standards."

She said it was likely that 2023 would continue to see tough times in both the retail and foodservice sectors and it was significant that another sector of growth over Christmas was in frozen foods. “HCC will be planning campaigns to keep top-quality fresh Welsh Lamb in people’s shopping baskets instead of frozen imports,” she said.