High quality Meat Scotland (QMS) supported a COP28 Scotch lamb dinner because the Nationwide Sheep Affiliation (NSA) celebrated the lamb product for a St Andrew’s Day marketing campaign again in Scotland.
In a COP28 dinner organised by Scottish Growth Worldwide (SDI) and supported by QMS, company have been handled to lamb from Woodhead Brothers in Aberdeenshire, which has change into the primary processor in Scotland to obtain accreditation to provide the market within the Center East.
First Minister Humza Yousaf was among the many delegates being served Scotch lamb in Dubai to have fun St Andrew’s Day.
Lamb for St Andrew’s Day, conceived by auctioneer George Purves, and sheep farmer Willie Mitchell whereas on the Scottish Enterprise Rural Management Programme, is an initiative to spice up lamb gross sales by making it synonymous with St Andrew’s Day in the identical approach haggis is for Burn’s Evening and turkey for Christmas. In line with QMS, since its inception in 2010, it has grown with trade assist, pushed by commerce our bodies, to change into a preferred fixture of Scotland’s nationwide day for eating places and secondary colleges as a lot as households and St Andrew’s Day occasions.
QMS stated that lamb is “vastly well-liked” within the Center East and, with the sheep meat manufacturing ranges of the six Gulf Co-operation International locations (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE) fulfilling solely 66% of their consumption ranges, QMS estimated that the brand new market may have important value to the Scottish sheep trade. Lately the Center East has imported an annual common of £571 million value of sheep meat.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon stated: “I’m happy to be concerned on this 12 months’s Lamb for St Andrew’ Day marketing campaign. This 12 months, Scotch lamb can be on the plates of decision-makers from Paris to Dubai. This is a wonderful alternative to showcase the easiest that our sheep producers have to supply.
“The top quality of Scottish lamb give it mass enchantment to prospects and I do know that this 12 months’s marketing campaign will assist to reinforce this message throughout the globe.”
Constructing exports
It is a important alternative to construct on the export market, stated Tom Gibson, director of enterprise improvement at QMS: “At QMS, we’re working repeatedly to open doorways to wider markets for our completely different merchandise. The Center East has been untapped till now and it’s actually thrilling to see this chance to promote a considerable quantity of lamb to a special a part of the world change into a actuality by Woodhead Brothers.
“Matching up with nations that aren’t self-sufficient is the right partnership and gives the very best worth to each, and it’s the processors who can grasp these worldwide alternatives by assembly the market demand and bodily supplying the product.
“The dinner in Dubai, forward of the world’s largest dialog in regards to the surroundings, can be a improbable platform to remind decision-makers in regards to the style of Scotch lamb however importantly additionally Scotland’s story as essentially the most sustainable place to provide it.”
QMS famous that Woodhead Brothers, a part of the Myton Meals Group in Turriff, is the second largest lamb processor in Scotland, and, alongside different Woodhead Bros processing websites, processes roughly 8000 lambs and over 2500 cattle every week.
Scott Bradley, buying and selling supervisor at Woodhead Brothers, said that buying and selling with Dubai highlights Scotland’s capacity to export premium lamb and can open alternatives in different Gulf states. He stated: “As client tastes and markets change it’s crucial for us to maintain in search of new alternatives, and that is one which has monumental and thrilling potential.
“Having sampled our merchandise in early November, consumers in Dubai have been delighted with the standard and flavour our vary needed to supply. As of right this moment, we’ll primarily be supplying merchandise into excessive finish meals service, the leisure and vacationer markets, and look ahead to rising commerce with different nations as consciousness and logistics develop.”
NSA celebrated St Andrew’s Day 5,000 miles away
The Nationwide Sheep Affiliation celebrated the initiative by sitting right down to a meal of Scotch lamb in Carfraemill, Lauder, with round 70 sheep farmers attending. They celebrated the primary Scottish abattoir processing lamb to halal licensed requirements, as delegates sat down almost 5,000 miles away to take pleasure in their very own meal.
Peter Myles, NSA Scottish Area chair, stated: “If the company on the St Andrew’s Day meal in Dubai loved their Scotch lamb as a lot as all of us did at Lauder, I’ve little doubt they’ll be common prospects going ahead. Shoppers of lamb from Muslim communities are rising in quantity and spending energy, so we should cater for his or her necessities. The extra doorways we will open for Scotch lamb, each domestically and internationally, the higher for all Scottish sheep farmers.
“NSA Scottish Area, QMS, butchers, auctioneers and plenty of others within the Scottish sheep sector have all labored so onerous to advertise the Lamb for St Andrew’s Day idea, from excessive degree gala dinners to youngsters getting Scotch lamb for his or her college dinner, and it’s vastly gratifying to see it now making an actual distinction. We should and can sustain our efforts, and have a lot to really feel proud about.”
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