A survey of retail beef prices across a number of countries by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has highlighted the significant disparity between the price of mince and steaks in the UK retail market.

The survey showed that the price of UK mince is one of the lowest, and behind the likes of the USA, Ireland, Germany, Canada and Australia. However, the retail price of sirloin in the UK is among the highest, and of the countries surveyed only Switzerland has a higher sirloin-to-mince price ratio.

As a result of Brexit, and potentially UK farmers becoming more exposed to world prices, the AHDB analysis suggests that the UK will be able to compete globally on mince prices, but could find that it is priced out of the steak market.

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But for the UK beef industry, the analysis also suggests that competition to gain retail market share has driven down the price of mince too far. To return more value to producers, and allow processors to compete in steak markets, the retail price of mince needs to rise.

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