In Spain, sheep meat consumption was almost a fifth below its year earlier level during May 2014, according to the quality meat Scotland Monthly Market Report.
Spanish households consumed 5,500 tonnes of sheep meat during the month compared with
6,800 tonnes a year earlier.
A significant headwind to sales will have been higher retail prices, which averaged more than four per cent higher year-on-year at €9.60/kg (£7.60/kg).
A further headwind will have been tight supplies; sheep meat production fell 16 per cent year-on-year during May.
Sheep meat accounted for just under three per cent of all meat sales volumes in Spain during the month compared with around 3.5 per cent in May 2013.
With sheep meat a relatively expensive protein, this level of consumption in volume terms required a higher proportion of the money spent on meat.
Indeed in May 2013, spending on sheep meat accounted for five per cent of spending on meat, slipping to 4.5 per cent a year later. In the first five months of the year, sheep meat consumption fell 13 per cent to 33,000 tonnes as the average price picked up by more than 2.5 per cent to €9.70/kg.
