Rising consumption of lamb inspires Bord Bia drive to maximise sales

SHOPPERS have increased their consumption of lamb in the first three months of the year, inspiring Bord Bia to launch a new TV campaign featuring chef Neven Maguire.

Consumers have increased both the amount and the frequency of purchasing lamb in the 12-week period to April 2011, compared with the same period last year. Volume sales were up by over 1% and purchase frequency by 3%, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel.

While the annualised sales jump is relatively small, Bord Bia is reading the quarterly jump positively as it comes on the back of encouraging sales of lamb over the Christmas period.