Irish lamb gets exclusive access to Luxemburg retailer
Bord Bia managed to secure a contract with Cactus Group Luxemburg to exclusively stock Irish lamb for its self-service and butcher counters.
The new business relationship was marked by a visit to Cactus by the Irish Ambassador to Luxembourg, Peadar Carpenter, Bernadette Byrne of Bord Bia, Alexandre Dupont, Manager Director of Lonhienne and Yannick De Mesmaeker, Meat Category Manager of Cactus Group Luxembourg, announced Bord Bia in a press release.
Commenting on the decision to exclusively stock Irish lamb, Yannick De Mesmaeker said: "Irish lamb has won us over and we have decided to promote it to our customers who value quality first and foremost. Our contact with Irish sheep producers facilitated by Bord Bia has been very successful and we are delighted to offer this excellent meat to our customers."
The lamb will be supplied by Irish Country Meats, a company that acquired Belgian lamb processor Lonhienne in 2011. "Irish Country Meats is delighted to become the exclusive supplier of quality Irish lamb to Cactus. Our business in Belgium has a long-standing relationship with the Cactus Group and we are pleased with their decision to endorse and promote Irish lamb in their stores. We look forward to working with Cactus and Bord Bia in growing Irish Lamb’s market share in Luxembourg", declared Joe Hyland, Managing Director of Irish Country Meats.
Cactus has a market share of 43% in Luxemburg's retail and reported a volume of sales of €948 million in 2016, of which 80% was food.
Bernadette Byrne, Bord Bia’s meat marketing specialist in Paris commented: “We are very pleased with this decision by Cactus to prioritise Irish lamb. This is a clear endorsement of the quality of Irish lamb and positive news for Irish sheep farmers. Luxembourg remains a strategic market for premium Irish lamb and Bord Bia will continue to work towards increasing the market share for Irish meat in the Benelux region.”
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