The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has reported that the total spend on meat, fish and poultry products grew by 11.6% year-on-year in the lead up to Christmas 2023.
In general, the spend on groceries hit a new record with £4.8 billion spent in Christmas week and £13.7 billion spent during the month of December.
Across the red meat category, total volumes for each protein performed well, AHDB said, despite cost pressures being at the forefront of consumers’ minds.
56% of shoppers prepared a turkey last Christmas, allowing it to retain its status as the UK’s favourite Christmas roasting joint.
Looking at cuts specifically, whole turkey and crowns/joints accounted for 31.9% of Christmas centrepiece volumes in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.
However, total turkey was also the only protein in the meat, fish and poultry category to see volumes down on pre-Covid levels.
AHDB said this could mean that the image of a traditional Christmas dinner with turkey as the centrepiece is slowly fading.
Beef volumes grew and total lamb saw a 17.3% year-on-year rise in volumes which came from fresh lamb and, more specifically, roasting joints.
Pork was the only red meat to have lost shoppers through switching to other proteins, however, those who did buy pork bought more of it, resulting in total pork volumes growing by 3.7% year-on-year.
Dairy
In the two weeks leading up to Christmas, shoppers spent more than £593 million on total dairy products (including cows’, plant and other animal).
Cow’s dairy equated to 94% of these total dairy volume sales, a 2-percentage point increase on the previous year.
Overall, cow’s cheese saw an increase of almost 4% in volume purchased Christmas 2023.
In spite of this, there was an indication that shoppers were cutting back in some areas perhaps perceived as non-essential, such as cheeseboards and convenience products.
Double cream and crème fraiche also performed well, and despite it not being a product “normally associated with Christmas”, AHDB said, yoghurt saw its volumes purchased increase by almost 14%.
AHDB retail and consumer insight analyst Charlotte Forkes-Rees said: “It’s great to see such strong retail performances across our meat and dairy sectors over Christmas, and we hope this continues in 2024.
“AHDB continue to promote the natural health benefits of both red meat and dairy to provide accurate information and reassurance for all consumers, with our THIS and THAT campaign championing the art of balanced eating.”
