The butcher sector is very important in terms of retail sales of Scotch Lamb PGI, Scotch Beef PGI and Specially Selected Pork.

Based on the latest Kantar Worldpanel report published in October 2015, annual sales from Scottish butchers represent £34.5 million, accounting for almost 11% of the retail market for fresh red meat in Scotland.

Statistics show that at least one in five Scottish shoppers has visited their local butchers in the last year and visit their butcher on average nine times a year. A red meat shopper will, on average, buy more in a butchers shop than they will in a supermarket.

Over the past 52 weeks there has been a 4.6% decrease in red meat retail sales across GB. While this decrease also involved Scotland, Scottish shoppers succeeded in limiting the fall to 3.6% in comparison to their English colleagues who saw a decrease of 7.9%.

However, these statistics only show some of the picture. Scottish butchers are selling more and more products which are not counted in the red meat retail sales figures, such as marinated products, sausages, burgers, ready-meals and other new innovative products which reflect the dynamism of the sector which now count for about 50% of the total red meat retail.

A closer look at fresh red meat sales reveals that beef, lamb and pork roasting cuts, and steaks, especially lamb, continue to sell well in butchers.

The latest statistics show that, on average, butchers can offer more value for money than some supermarkets and even some of the discounters.

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has supported the independent butcher sector for many years, especially those who sell Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Selected Pork, and we continue to work closely with the butchers federations and associations both in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

QMS also runs the Scotch Butchers Club, the members of which benefit from seasonal point of sale material along with various promotional activities to support members' trade and increase the visibility of red meat produced in Scotland.

Currently there are over 300 members of the club who have shops located in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. Members have to offer Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and/or Specially Selected Pork in order to qualify and must also pay a flat annual membership fee of £75 to cover the administration costs of running the Scotch Butchers Club.

We also have a number of butchers who take part in the QMS Butchers Think Tank and we greatly value their time and suggestions on areas such as the content and focus of our campaigns for butchers and ensure we have a good understanding of the genuine needs of the most active butchers in the country.

Our Scotch Butchers Club members receive at least five bespoke promotional packs to support their sales of Scotch and Specially Selected products, per year. So far in 2015, QMS has distributed over 200,000 promotional kits and posters including a steak campaign in February, a summer campaign through May and June and a quick and easy lamb campaign through August and September to support sales of Scotch Lamb PGI at the height of the lamb season through the members.

As winter sets in, we have launched our latest Comfort Food and Roasts campaign which saw over 100,000 booklets and mince recipe cards distributed to our member's shops in October, with the aim of encouraging consumers to cosy up with satisfying meals and traditional family favourites.

Alongside our campaign activity in 2015 we have also looked to engage further with our member butchers. This has included four award-winning butchers who were invited along to the Royal Highland Show to demonstrate the skill, craftsmanship and pride they take, in the same way farmers do, to deliver a quality product to consumers' plates.

Butchers continue to play an important part within the Scottish red meat industry and they remain a vibrant sector of the Scottish rural and urban economy. As is the case in any industry, they are not homogeneous; business is better for some than others.

Those who are thriving are using the butcher sector's advantages: loyalty of their customers, reputation for the quality of their products, in-depth knowledge of their customers and products and also the fact they represent an important part of their local community.

— To find your nearest Scotch Butchers Club shop, please visit: www.scotchbutchersclub.org

For more information, inspiration and delicious recipes visit: www.scotchkitchen.com.