The announcement that Sainsbury’s has committed to extend its British lamb season until at least January 2016, has been welcomed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.
Welsh sheep farmers have been hard hit this year as the poor exchange rate between the pound and the New Zealand dollar coupled with Chinese buying policy changes, saw a flood of lamb imports arrive in Britain, hitting Welsh lamb prices already damaged by the rate of the Euro to the pound.
“The fall in lamb prices, drastically reduced farm incomes and frustrations over the volume of imported lamb on supermarket shelves saw farmer anger reaching boiling point this summer,” said FUW president Glyn Roberts.
“Extending the British lamb season to January next year is therefore a move that must be welcomed and we congratulate Sainsbury’s on making that commitment to their lamb producers.
“We strongly urge other supermarkets to follow suit and make use of the plentiful superb quality Welsh lamb that is available. A message we have been bringing to discussions with supermarkets all through the summer and one will continue to highlight in meetings with retailers.
“As part of our ‘It’s more than lamb’ campaign we are joining Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat promotion Wales (HCC) at their Wales based roadshow locations to further spread the word of this great product to consumers for the rest of the year.
“Lamb prices had fallen drastically over the summer months, with prices down by around 20 percent compared with the same period last year and such falls came against a background of predicted falls in net hill and lowland livestock farm incomes of 41 and 24 percent.
“There is a lot more work left to be done to engage consumers more effectively with Welsh produce but this offer by Sainsbury’s is definitely a step in the right direction.”