Pork shoulder returned a 9% increase in sales volume in the UK during the 12 weeks to September 13 with ‘other cuts’ (due mainly to marinades) also achieving sales progress, according to AHDB Pork.
These were only two “bright spots” for retail sales during the period, however, with pork in general continuing to lose sales to fresh chicken, chilled ready meals and main meal accompaniments.
AHDB Pork also pointed out that, year on year, the level of promotional activity by retailers was down during the 12 weeks, a pattern which ran across most of the major cuts.
Here again, there was one bright spot. While overall sales were down, for example, the so-called “hard discounters” continued to “buck the trend”, accounting for a record 16% share of pork volume sales in the latest three months.