The sheepmeat and goatmeat sector in Spain must adapt to the demands of the market and consumers to recover domestic consumption. The innovation, sustainability and the nutritional properties of meat will be the values that the sector will have to promote.
The operators and traders of small ruminant meat have seen how meat consumption has dropped sustainedly since the beginning of the economic crisis in recent years, accumulating household consumption losses of around 40% in the last 10 years.
However, this sector has managed to put its products into the foreign market and thus maintain a healthy production and trade balance.
The challenge now faced by this sector is to recover domestic consumption and to loyalty and improve the value of products placed in foreign markets.
On April 5, the meeting of the Ovino-Caprino Anafric Group was held in Zamora, attended by representatives of 17 associated companies, in which an honorary prize was awarded for the professional and associative career in D. Cristobal Martínez (sponsored by the Nanta Group).
The group analyzed the need to explore new technologies that allow to extend the useful life of sheepmeat and goatmeat and, in this way, to access more distant markets with high quality products without freezing.
The present received information on the strategies to reduce the use of antimicrobials during livestock production. This extreme is of great concern to the medical community as well as to the public, as well as to the sector itself, which will have to adopt new practices that allow rationalizing the use of antibiotics and thereby reclaim consumer confidence .
Halal Consulting also participated, who gave a paper about halal certification. Arab markets are of great interest to the sheepmeat and goatmeat sector, due to the great buying potential and the gradual opening of markets in the Middle East. Halal certification, therefore, is a matter that concerns exporters and companies that are beginning to explore foreign markets.
The decline in household consumption is of great concern to the sector and for this reason, the sector has tools such as:
Mark the strategy to be followed by INTEROVIC within the framework of the promotion: Anafric / Ovicebo holds a 40% representativity in the industry of INTEROVIC and 20% in the branch of production. This great specific weight will be decisive when it comes to directing the paths that the interprofesional will follow, both in promotion matters and in other areas.
Know and disseminate the properties of sheepmeat and goatmeat: scientific knowledge about the demystification of these meats as a detrimental element in the diet is increasingly numerous and extensive. The sector must know in detail what are the properties of meat of lamb and milk that differentiate it from other meats, and in this sense, the meeting saw two presentations by scientists experts in the field, the They provided specific knowledge for these meats.
At the meeting of the Anafric sheep’s group attended 17 of the main marketers of sheep and goat from Spain, associated with Anafric: Carnes Frescas S.A., Carnes Selectas Cinco Villas, Cárnicas Coviher, Cárnicas Tebi, Carns JB, El Ovino de Segovia, Franco y Navarro, Ganados Ovimancha, Ganados Zurbano, Grupo Amaro SA, Inescar, Los Chengos, Moralejo Selección, Murgaca, Nanta, Ovinos Manchegos and Ramaderia Farràs..
Anafric is the main representative association of ovine-goat meat distributors, grouping 68.79% of the volume in tonnes marketed by the 34 leading distributors in Spain (source: Alimarket). Among the top 10 operators, 6 are members of this association.
