Pork products such as gammon should benefit from ongoing uncertainty around turkey supplies and tightening family budgets this Christmas, according to Pilgrim’s UK.
The pork giant is anticipating a 25% uplift in gammon volumes compared to last Christmas, while pork crackling joints are also due to see a spike in demand. The business said it expected to produce over four million pork products in the run-up to Christmas.
“Not only is a gammon joint cheaper, costing around £8 per kilo compared to a turkey at over £12 per kilo, it’s also often slow-cooked which uses far less energy, and therefore money, than conventional oven cooking,” said Rachel Griffiths, chief commercial officer at Pilgrim’s UK.
“Gammon is incredibly versatile, simple to prepare and cook, and absolutely delicious – making it an ideal choice for Christmas.”
Fresh pork has increased its share of the wider protein category over the past four weeks to 13.3% [Kantar, 4 w/e 30/10/2022] in terms of volume compared to the last four weeks of December 2021.
Meanwhile fresh turkey has faced a more than 85% drop in volume share of the category during the same period.
Griffiths added Pilkgrim’s had started production early to meet the anticipated demand.
“Our dedicated teams have been working hard, producing over 1.6 million higher-welfare, high-quality gammon joints and more than 157,000 pork crackling joints to ensure our retail customers are well stocked for the festive period,” she added.
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