British facings refers to the amount of products that consumers see on the supermarket shelf where the country of origin is from Britain.
Co-op, Budgens, M&S, Lidl, Waitrose and Morrison’s have maintained 100% beef and lamb product facings throughout November, demonstrating their support for British farmers.
Co-op, Aldi, Lidl and Morrison’s continue their commitment to support British farmers through sourcing British all year round while the other named retailers are taking a 'best in season' approach to sourcing.
Tesco has reduced British beef and lamb facings by 15% and 18% respectively in comparison to the same period last year. This is the third consecutive time we have seen reductions of British facings in store and a significant step backwards.
The results also show a decline of facings for British beef in Asda stores, down 6% when comparing to this time last year, however this has increased since August 2018. Asda has increased its British lamb in store by 2% since November 2017 and by 9% since August 2018, however its total percentage of British facings of beef and lamb are 55% and 57% respectively during November 2018.
The NFU made calls to Tesco and Asda following the AHDB's Beef and Lamb Watch results in August 2018, highlighting the threat posed by a no-deal Brexit and the cost of trading with existing customers in the EU.
With the very real threat of a no-deal Brexit lingering and with it, the potential for WTO bound tariffs to be applied, the NFU is asking all retailers to do all they can to find opportunities to support British farmers. The UK red meat market is underpinned by vital export routes which give us the opportunity to balance the carcase; any disruption to these has the potential to have serious impacts on livestock farmers.
The NFU calls on retailers to consider, if necessary, new product lines to restore the balance.
The NFU also continues to encourage retailers to source British beef and lamb. British farmers are proud of their high standards and do not want to be undercut by imported product potentially produced to lower animal welfare and environmental standards.
See the figures per retailer:
