Eduardo SilveraEtchmendy Lus Kluwe Aguiarl

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Eduardo Silvera-EtchmendyLuís Kluwe Aguiarl

• Profiling the Heavy Lamb Consumer in Uruguay

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Summary

• Setting the Scene
• Introduction
• Objectives
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions

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• General Facts
• Population 3.4 million
• 50 living in the capital Montevideo
• Uruguay is a member of Mercosul
• GDP 10.6 billion, growth 14 (2003)
• agriculture 11
• industry 27
• services 62

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Lamb Production and Exports (2003)

• National flock 60 Corriedale, 18 Merino, 8
  Ideal

• 72.4 tonnes lamb and mutton or some 735,00 heads
• from total flock of 9.8 million heads,

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Natural Production System

• Lamb and mutton exports 9,000 tonnes
• Markets
• 62 EU
• 25 Brazil
• Export of live animals
• Jordan 154,000
• Saudi Arabia 70,000

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Heavy LambAzzarini et al (1999) and Bartol et al
(2001)

• Milk teeth female and male lambs
• 34 45 Kg (live weight)
• 3.5 carcass grade
• Acceptable steak eye areas
• Age 13 months old and castrated males, unless
  younger than 7 months
• Wool wick measuring between 1 3 cm

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Uruguayan Wool Secretariat Initiative (1996)

• Heavy Lamb initiative created as means of
  integrating the sheep wool/meat chain.
• But in Montevideo lamb meat has shown limited
  market penetration.
• Consumers prefer mainly muttons and Light Lamb
• Light Lamb and mutton are more suitable for
  BBQs
• Sheep meat consumption is lower than other meats
• This consumption trend is consistent with
  worldwide trends for sheep meat (MLC, 2000).

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Study by Picerno and Vazquez-Platero (1997)

• Heavy Lamb is mainly exported to the EU and
  Brazil.
• In Montevideo, there is a high-income market
  segment for this meat.
• Consumers are willing to buy lamb as a gourmet
  meat.
• High-income consumers tend to diversify and
  differentiate their diets, thus little price
  sensitivity is expected in relation to other
  meats.

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Objectives

• To investigate the present situation of sheep
  meat consumption in Montevideo.
• To explore what variables were determinant in
  consumer preference over other meats.
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors
• General Consumption
• Frequency, places (to eat and buy), reasons for
  meat preference, price comparison
• Demographics
• Gender, educational level, age, household size
  and income

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Methodology

• Survey questionnaire with 18 questions
• Random distribution
• Face to face interviews
• Neighbourhoods representative of low, middle and
  high income groups.

Population of the three neighbourhoods in 2003.
1 INE Statistics National Institute
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The Uruguayan Consumer

• Has the highest beef consumption level in the
  world!
• 58 kg/capita/year

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• Vernazza (2003) in a INAC (Meat Institute) study
  found

• 74 respondents were considering consuming less
  beef and 59 indicated they would be willing to
  reduce beef consumption
• 85 regarded taste, colour and cut yields as
  important attributes.
• Tenderness was not an important attribute when
  compared to consumer preferences in developed
  countries.

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The Uruguayan Consumer

• 54 of the respondents buy beef from butchers
• 42 buy from supermarkets
• Supermarkets are the preferred outlet for
  purchase of beef in higher socio-economic areas
  (58 of the buyers)
• In lower income areas, 70 of buyers buy from
  butchers due to proximity and lower prices.
• But the majority has never bought packaged meat.
  Convenience and packaging were not important
  attributes for the beef consumer.

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The Uruguayan Consumer

• Poultry comes second in the consumer preference
  (Lema and Errera, 2003)
• In urban areas consumers prefer eating beef,
  poultry and pork.
• Lamb consumption comes 4th, around 15Kg
• Aliaga et al (1997) found that sheep meat is
  consumed more in the rural areas where
  consumption reached 90 kg/capita/year.
• In Montevideo lamb consumption is about 2-3 Kg
  per capita/year.

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The Overall Picture

• As beef is the favoured meat other meat cuts
  receive less attention
• Retailers have little incentive to improve the
  presentation of lamb cuts
• Lamb is a cheap type of protein in rural areas
  (wages)
• In Montevideo, lamb is more a gourmet meat with
  its consumption restricted to Christmas and New
  Year holidays, and the summer months.

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Results

• 42.7 of the sample consume sheep meat.
• Beef is the preferred meat, followed by poultry,
  fish and pork.
• Sheep meat came 5th in preference.
• 65 considered quality as the most important
  factor when buying a cut of meat, followed by
  price (13.8) and taste (11.3).

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Results

• 75 of the respondents would buy Heavy Lamb.
• The higher-middle income Pocitos residents
  presented more willingness to buy lamb (61.8)
  than in La Blanqueada (21.2).
• The older the people, the less they would pay for
  one kilo of Heavy Lamb (U 0.39 less when age
  is increased by one year)
• Price paid for one kilo of Heavy Lamb (U)
• 74.7- 0.39 age (years)

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Results

• When buying a cut of meat the attributes were
• 65 quality
• 13.8 price
• 11.3 taste
• But in La Blanqueada, price (32.4) and taste
  (34) are the most important factors.
• In Carrasco 67 did not know about the Heavy
  Lamb initiative compared to 47 in Pocitos.

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Results

• Sheep meat consumption is larger when 2 people
  are responsible for the family income (52.9)
  than one person household (34.1)
• The preference for sheep meat is due to
• Taste (25.9)
• Traditional meat (24.1) and
• Convenience (24.1).

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Results

• Empirical knowledge shows that sheep meat is not
  presented attractively enough at retail level.
• This results in lack of convenience cuts so that
  they could be used in an easy and practical way.
• Beef preference is due to traditional (22.8),
  taste (32.5) and easy to prepare (17.3).
• Poultry meat and fish are bought due to change
  in diet and health issues.

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Conclusions

• Managers involved in the retailing of lamb should
  focus marketing and promotional efforts regarding
  heavy lamb on
• Females
• 35 55 years old
• Middle-income (U 10,000 40,000),
• Residents in Pocitos
• High level of education
• Households with surprisingly one or five
  members

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Final Remarks

• There is a need for deeper and extensive more
  detailed information on consumer attitudes and
  behaviour.
• This study has expanded to the second phase
• More neighbourhoods
• Montevideo and countryside towns

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Profiling The Heavy Lamb Consumer in Uruguay
Eduardo Silvera-Etchemendy and Luís Kluwe Aguiar