Ráðunautafundur - 15.02.2002, Síða 178

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Although diminishing, local butchers will continue to have a role, possibly more so in rural
communities where some consumers might prefer to shop locally. However, much will depend on the
viability of the rural economy in general.
A Developing ‘Altemative' Retail Market
Despite the dominance of the supermarkets, many producers in many parts of the country, are also
now involved in developing branded meat products with ‘unique’ attributes, usually based on area
and/or breed as a way of differentiating their products, with the extreme niche of ‘organic produce’
status growing in importance (but within still a small market share). Such activity is often aimed at
supplying the ‘altemative market’ for consumers other than through the large supermarkets; this is
principally through traditional specialist retailers, such as butchers but also interest in more direct
selling (farm shops, farmers markets, direct mail and intemet marketing) has been growing.
Such selling offers farmers the ability to be proactive with their marketing, rather than being in
passive acceptance of a market price (ISC, 2001). Research for Food from Britain in 1999 indicated
that there were over 3000 speciality food producers in the UK, but as most of these were established
businesses registered with such as the ‘Taste of the West’ and similar organisations, some
commentators believe that this understates the real potential. They point to MAFF figures which show
the existence of over 150,000 minor registered agricultural holdings, large enough to be VAT
registered, many of which are the producers behind the recent growth of 'farmers markets’ in many
parts of the country.
Whilst being a positive way of increasing net margin for producers, such differentiating efforts in the
meat sector may raise new issues such as problems of where the animals can be slaughtered and where
can the meat can be prepared (butchered and packed for retail sale). Changes in the downstream
sector have seen the reduction of many of the medium and smaller facilities (low throughput abattoirs
and cutting plants), willing to service this trade. This has led to a growing number of farmers (groups
and individuals) wishing to take more control of the supply chain by slaughtering and cutting meat
themselves, either from fixed or even ‘mobile’ units. In some cases these groups are trying to form
new relationships with existing operators, in others due to a lack of nearby facilities or their inability
to build ‘bridges’ between themselves and the ‘traditional’ abattoir/processing sectors, they are
looking to renovate old or build new facilities.
The Red Meat Abattoir Sector
The UK abattoir sector has a number of long-term under-lying problems which will continue to affect
its operating capabilities for some time:
• increasing regulatory and operational costs (particularly higher environmental charges)
• low margins
• falling livestock availability
• low investment
• excess-capacity - still an issue among the group of larger plants.
but coupled with
• locational disparity - some areas having limited access to small/medium plants and large
ones not interested in servicing local needs (e.g. unwilling to contract kill)
Slaughterings have concentrated into the hands of fewer companies in all species sectors; in the cattle
sector the top ten companies slaughtered 48% of all cattle in 1998/99 (ISC, 1999); in the same year in
the sheep sector, which has seen the growth of large often specialist sheep plants, the top ten
companies accounted for 47% of sheep slaughter; while in the pig sector the top ten companies
accounted for 70% of total slaughter.
The number of operational abattoirs has declined in the country as a whole from about 850, 10 years
ago, to under 400 in the latest year. It seems probable that the number of abattoir companies will
continue to decline, especially as there is little likelihood of any reduction in operating costs (although
recent revisions to MHS charging has helped the smaller operatives) and the availability of livestock
for slaughter is expected to continue to decline.