British eager to buy Kiwi lamb

New Zealand lamb growers are in clover, judging by reports from European meat marketers.

Britain's Asda supermarket chain, a subsidiary of United States supermarket giant Wal-mart, wanted to make fresh New Zealand lamb available in its 243 stores year-round, meat general manager Brian Haigh said during a buying trip to New Zealand last week.

Mr Haigh, responsible for buying £750 million ($2.7 billion) of meat a year, said New Zealand lamb would be on the shelves from November until May, then in the chain's delicatessens. It would also be used in Asda's ethnic and readymade meals.

Asda took New Zealand lamb off its shelves three years ago after the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad-cow disease) scare to support British farmers, but Mr Haigh said that was a mistake.

"All that did was cost us market share. The move did not help the UK farmer at all. We will not be doing that again."

Affco sales and marketing chief Tony Johnston said from Paris that the company's European Union lamb markets were in for a good year.

- NZPA