Lamb-tastic: Price of a Kiwi favourite plunges before Christmas

Lamb prices take a hit leading up to Christmas. Photo / Babiche Martins

Lamb prices have halved in supermarkets in the lead-up to Christmas.

Lamb legs at Countdown and New World today are $9.90 per kg and $10.99 per kg respectively.

A spokesperson from lamb exporter Alliance said global market volatility and less spending power meant people were less able to afford high-value meat overseas.

Alliance’s Shane Kingston said, “This means consumers are tending to eat out less in restaurants and affecting grocery spends.”

“Lamb continues to be the highest-price protein per kilogram weight so it is generally the first to be impacted as consumers trade down to cheaper proteins and reduce the frequency of their purchases.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand chief executive Kit Arkwright says supermarkets here are pricing the meat competitively to attract customers.

“Domestic retailers are competitively priced on their meat because they know that if they get a customer in to buy their protein from them, they are likely to buy everything else.”

“It’s not just protein, it’s the potatoes, the salads, the desserts, everything else that goes with it.”

He said beef prices are also likely to be low following a financially challenging year for Kiwis.

AgriHQ showed that current prices are over $1 per kg lower for lamb compared to the same time last year.

AgriHQ’s July report found warmer weather in Europe leads to reduced demand for lamb, while demand in China has reduced significantly showing zero lamb exports to China in June compared with 1600 tonnes last year.

Rabobank’s Global Animal Protein Outlook 2023 showed that low export demands and growing production costs could be adding to slow overseas demand.