M&S unveils new lamb contract

20 November 1998

M&S unveils new lamb contract

MARKS & SPENCER is to launch Britains first forward contract for buying lambs.

The three-month trial, which has been agreed with 30 Welsh producers, will start in January and last three months.

Under the scheme, M&S staff will monitor the farms in an agreement with the Welsh meat company Cig Mon.

If the trial is successful in supplying some 300 lambs a week, it will be extended throughout the UK.

John Thorley, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, voiced concern that the scheme would lead to the further decline of the live auction.

The move reflects trends in the industry towards direct deadweight transactions in the sheep, beef and pig sectors.

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  The Scotsman 20/11/98 page 30