British facings refer to the amount of products that consumers see on the supermarket shelf where the country of origin is from Britain.
Aldi, Budgens, Co-op and Morrison’s are continuing the trend of 100% beef & Lamb facings in store which is a real achievement for these supermarkets, demonstrating their support for British farmers.
Beef:
Lidl, Waitrose and M&S have continued to stock 100% British beef in store.
A key improvement has been seen from Tesco, having increased British facings by 17% compared to November 2018 figures, bringing their British facings in line with their January average.
The NFU welcomes those retailers who have stood by their public commitments in sourcing 100% of their beef from British farmers.
Lamb:
Both Lidl and Waitrose are up 16% and 27% comparing year on year data. This is the first year Waitrose have been able to remain in British lamb supply through January. Traditionally, they took a “best in season” approach switching into New Zealand lamb typically around December. Waitrose and their lamb steering groups have put considerable effort into increasing their British lamb supply to achieve this season extension, with further plans in the pipeline to improve going forward.
We welcome these efforts by Waitrose to increase their British lamb sourcing and by working with lamb producers to achieve this.
Tesco have increased their British lamb by 14% compared to last year, and by 24% compared to the November 2018 analysis of the beef and lamb watch. Tesco recently re-ranged the offering to stock more of the best - selling lines such as lamb legs, which may explain this.
Asda continues to under-perform in these figures. The NFU will be discussing this further with Asda to understand the detail behind this.
It’s important for retailers to be clear about their British sourcing strategies and to stand by these public commitments as we transition away from the European Union.
The NFU has continuously pointed out the very real threat of a no deal Brexit and the impact this will have for British agriculture. We ask retailers to do all they can to find opportunities to support farmers in the event of a no-deal, particularly regarding the UK red meat market which is underpinned by vital export routes.
British farmers are proud of their high standards and do not want to be undercut by imported product potentially produced to lower animal welfare and environmental standards.
NFU will continue to encourage retailers to source British beef and lamb and regularly meets with the top retailers to discuss their commitments to back British farming. For an overview of all our supply chain discussions, please visit our “Supply Chain Engagemen”