The National Beef Association has surveyed multiple retailers’ beef sales, assessing the proportion of British beef sold. Taking advantage of reduced prices for beef from the Republic of Ireland, several retailers are now mixing imported beef with British beef to avoid increasing prices for home-produced beef.
British prices have risen over the last 18 months as retailers followed encouragement to concentrate on British sourcing. It looks as though the higher prices have proved too much for some retailers to stomach, with several retailers, including Tesco and ASDA, now importing a larger proportion of their beef. Tesco’s sales of British beef have dropped from 98% to 90% since 2007, while just 60% of ASDA’s beef is British. Anyone wishing to buy British beef should certainly avoid Netto, which imports all its beef.
A few retailers stand out for their continued commitment to British beef farmers, sourcing 100% of their beef from the UK: not just the upmarket Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, but also the Co-op, Budgens and Morrisons. Discounter Lidl follows with 96% British beef.
How are these sourcing policies reflected in the retailers’ prices? Comparing prices of around 500g of standard own-label beef mince at Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose some surprising results emerge: Waitrose is cheapest at £3.98/kg followed closely by ASDA at £4. Tesco and Sainsbury’s are both pricer at £4.40. Clearly, Waitrose is able to meet its commitment to source only British beef while still offering a very competitive price to its customers.
(Prices checked with Tesco’s own price check and mysupermarket.com.)
