Ham, lamb and beef, what Australians will dish up on their Christmas tables

Drops in retail red meat pricing have beef and lamb well positioned to compete with ham and pork for Christmas. It comes as Meat & Livestock Australia prepares to embark on a festive marketing campaign to help drive beef and lamb sales and build on momentum of retail price adjustments. The campaign, expected to launch later this week, was flagged at the MLA Updates forum in Bendigo. Group Industry Insights and Strategy Manager at MLA Scott Cameron said even before the start of summer, red meat prices had fallen, with purchases soaring. "Data from MLA via NielsenIQ Homescan, shows that in the 12 weeks to 5 November, retail price for lamb has fallen 13.6 per cent and beef has fallen 6.4pc," he said. "This has led to a surge in volume purchased at this time, with lamb up 17.2pc and beef 7.7pc. "We expect this to continue through December towards Christmas. "The ever popular lamb leg roast, which will dot Christmas lunches all over Australia has fallen by 18.7pc, which corresponds to ...