Key information – Supermarket red meat prices

Overview

AHDB launched the Supermarket Red Meat Price Survey in September 2019. The survey collects the retail price of a range of key beef, lamb and pork cuts from a number of supermarkets’ websites each week to produce an average price.

Specification 

The price information is taken from the supermarkets’ own brand, which can include both pre-packaged and in-store “over the counter” butcher cuts. The aim of the survey is to collect comparable cuts and so in order to maximise consistency, the following guidelines are used:

• Wherever possible, cuts are from British farms, although some of the supermarkets source their key cuts from a range of farms in the UK, Republic of Ireland and the wider EU. Seasonally, British lamb may not be available and supermarkets will source it from New Zealand. In these circumstances we will endeavour to exclude New Zealand lamb from the survey
• Where supermarkets have a range of products (basic, mid or premium), the prices are collected from the mid-range
• Prices are collected from similar weighing cuts (if varying packaged weights are available)

The criteria for specific cuts is referenced below:

Cuts collected

Beef roasting joint (typically topside)
Beef sirloin steak (typically 21–28 days matured)
Beef rump steak
Beef fillet steak (typically 21–28 days matured)
Beef diced (from various cuts)
Beef braising steak
Beef lean mince (typically 7% fat or less)
Beef standard mince (typically 15–20% fat)
Lamb whole leg
Lamb shoulder (bone-in)
Lamb shanks
Lamb steaks
Lamb chops (typically loin)
Lamb diced (from various cuts)
Lamb standard mince (typically 20% fat)
Pork leg (boneless)
Pork shoulder (boneless)
Pork fillet tenderloin
Pork loin steaks
Pork chops
Pork diced (from various cuts)
Pork belly slices
Pork ribs
Pork lean mince (typically 5–8% fat)

Collection and methodology

An average price will only be published if there are three or more individual supermarket prices available. Individual supermarket prices may be rolled for up to four weeks should they become unavailable.

Prices are collected from the supermarkets listed below, subject to availability.

Supermarkets

Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Frequency

Prices are collected and published each Tuesday. 

Units 

Pence per kg.

The price cut information is weighted by the supermarket’s retail share and combined with the other weighted prices to create an overall average price. The retail share attributed to each supermarket is based on sales in the previous calendar year and is updated annually.

Contact us

This dataset was produced by our Data and Analysis Team. If you need any further help, please contact us at econ@ahdb.org.uk