01 November 2007, 15:11 PM
  • New figures have revealed that UK consumers are purchasing more English lamb in their bid to buy British.

The latest TNS retail sales data shows robust English consumer demand for lamb with the percentage of households purchasing lamb increasing by two percent over the four weeks ending 7th October, and increasing by three percent for the 52 week period to 7th October. The volume of lamb sold over the 52 weeks is also up by nine percent compared to the previous 52 week period.

 
EBLEX chief executive, Richard Ali, said, “At a time like this it is good to see that more English households are out there buying lamb.
 
“There are also strong signals coming from our customers in Europe who are clamouring for our product.
 
“Exporters are looking forward to operating under the more relaxed set of export rules following the European Commission decision which was adopted on Wednesday 31 October.  And over the next few weeks we should start to see this having an impact on reducing some of the backlog of English lambs ready for slaughter.”
 
He added, “We will be pushing hard to get exports back towards their full potential over the crucial Christmas period, which will help stabilise and underpin farmgate prices on the domestic market.”