Source: MEATINGPLACE.COM, 4/14/11

Consumers are purchasing as much meat as they did two years ago or slightly more as the economy has begun to improve, while still looking for value in the meat department, a survey presented this week at an American Meat Institute conference suggests.

Two-thirds of consumers said they have either increased their purchases of fresh meat and poultry each week or held them the same, according to the data, presented at AMI’s International Meat Poultry and Seafood Convention in Chicago.

Fifty-four percent of the consumers, who were surveyed in March, reported spending about the same on meat and poultry, while 15 percent said their spending was up from two years ago, according to the survey by Shugoll Research and Midan Marketing Consumer Research. Most of those who were spending less said it was because they were buying less meat and poultry overall.

Consumers said they were buying more chicken and less pork compared with in the past, while beef spending was up slightly.
The researchers also looked at annual meat sales by volume in recent years. The volume of chicken purchased rose 1.1 percent to 3.7 million pounds in 2010, after gaining 7.7 percent in 2009 and 6.6 percent in 2008.

Higher beef prices have slowed sales growth, with beef volume dipping 1.3 percent in 2010, after rising 8.1 percent in 2009 and 1.8 percent in 2008.

Pork volume also slowed in 2010, by 4.0 percent, after gaining 10.3 percent the year before and 4.9 percent in 2008.
Chicken parts saw strong growth in 2010, with purchases of drumsticks, thighs and wings up 5.3 percent from the year before.

While consumers are still looking for value, slightly fewer said they are preparing bone-in breasts and parts “a lot more” often, and buying of boneless chicken breasts picked up the fourth quarter of last year, the survey found.

When consumers serve beef, premium ground beef tends to dominate the menu, and steak buying has declined. Purchases of premium ground beef rose 5.4 percent in 2010 from a year ago, while regular ground beef fell 2.7 percent, premium steaks were down 3.7 percent and regular steaks down 3.2 percent. Premium roasts also saw more growth than regular roasts.

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