The value of lamb and beef exports from Wales hit the £250 million mark in 2022, according to analysis of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) trade data by Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC).
Welsh lamb exports were worth £171.5 million in 2022, with exports to the largest European partners – France, Germany and Belgium – all up on 2021 figures, with the French market worth an estimated £77 million to Welsh sheep farmers.
Beef exports from Wales jumped by nearly 50% last year – from £50.9 million in 2021 to £75.6 million.
Head of supply chain delivery at HCC, Jon Parker, said the export figures were “really encouraging” and the HCC was glad to see growth in priority markets for Welsh red meat.
“We’re leading the way as global trade returns to a more normal pattern after the Covid-19 disruption,” he said.
Parker said hard work was done by the industry to ensure that emerging markets in the Middle East bounced back after the pandemic.
This was achieved, he said, as trade increased in the foodservice and hospitality sector, with notable export increases to Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“We’re determined to resume the levels of growth that we had been seeing in exports to the Middle East region before Covid-19, so the recovery into the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait is very promising,” Parker said.
“It will all help at a time when domestic demand in the UK is less buoyant than it was.
“With sales in the home market having fallen back from the peaks seen during the Covid-19 years of 2020 and 2021, and British consumers feeling the cost-of-living pinch, industry experts are united in projecting that overseas sales are more important than ever to securing good returns for farmers and processors.”
