IN MARKET MARKET FOCUSm Australia – winning in Australian red meat’s biggest market I t’s no secret that Australians love their meat. Australia remains the largest single market for Australian beef and lamb, and MLA has a strong plan to capitalise on this. With Australians annually consuming 1,492,00 tonnes of beef and 302,000 tonnes of lamb, it’s difficult to ignore the size and importance of the domestic market. While international markets have provided the majority of growth in the past two decades, domestically the market remains large (67% of overall Australian red meat consumed) and buoyant, and further opportunities to build consumer preference exist. fresh meat category with retailers is key. prepare, represent value for money Designated a ‘maintain’ market by MLA, “Our retail customers, be it butchers and are reasonably nutritious. Portion the objective is to ensure domestic or supermarkets, are the industry’s sizes and lean cuts are considered. As consumption is protected and, where window to the end consumer of consumers become increasingly busy, appropriate, to invest to capture new Australian beef and lamb,” Graeme said. the level of confidence to cook has high value opportunities. declined. This is especially evident “MLA invests in shopper research to with red meat, where many younger The local consumer is considered provide an optimised retail selling consumers fear overcooking a relatively ‘mature’ in terms of their fresh meat use environment for red meat, supports high value food item. and shopping patterns – the majority brand activities with point of sale and of product being sold through the promotions, and connects retail buyers When choosing meat, shoppers highly consolidated retail supermarket and store owners with the latest data look for quality cues such as channel (65% of retail sales) dominated and statistics to help them position freshness, provenance, meat colour by Woolworths, Coles and Aldi, with their business on topics such as eating and packaging type, yet there’s still the fragmented butcher channel (23% quality and cuts (through the Meat confusion when it comes to making market share) picking up a smaller share. Standards Australia program), nutrition, these choices. MLA’s Domestic Market Manager Graeme animal welfare and sustainability.” Nutrition, sustainability and animal Yardy describes MLA’s approach to The final piece of MLA’s domestic welfare are lesser drivers for red winning with Australian consumers. market program is working with meat, but are emerging needs for the “To maintain Australia as a valuable and foodservice (see stories page 42 and Australian consumer. vibrant market for red meat, it’s critical 43) to continue to promote Australian Meat-free and flexitarian (reduced that we continue to build relevance beef and lamb on menus. The highly meat, mainly plant-based) diets are also with our target consumers, through our fragmented sector, worth $70 billion in total, is diverse with multi-site on-trend in Australia, although their brand platforms: ‘Share The Lamb’ and operators such as fast food chains, presence is often over-represented. ‘Australian Beef. The Greatest’.” pubs and clubs, aged care, hospitals Of the 28% choosing to limit red meat “To do this we need to use bold and leisure operators (cruiselines and consumption, over half do so from a advertising that gets attention, but also airlines) to high end restaurants serving cost perspective and approximately a demonstrates the ability for red meat to prime Australian produce to the most third for health reasons. ■ be easy to cook, versatile in the dishes discerning diners. it creates, of the highest quality, and Purchasing considerations Graeme Yardy worth paying more for.” E: gyardy@mla.com.au When buying fresh meat, time-poor Coupling this with a structured Australians are driven by convenient mla.com.au/market-snapshots partnership approach to building the solutions that are easy and quick to 48