THE LAMB MEAT MARKET IN THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES IN 2007–2017

The aim of the work was to show the situation and changes on the lamb meat market in the European Union countries. All European Union Member States, which belonged to the EU as of 31 December 2017 were selected for research. The research concerned the years from 2007 till 2017. The period of research concerned the years 2007–2017. Decrease in the sheep population in the EU has been found, the largest in the countries that keep the largest number of animals, such as Spain, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The decline in the population of sheep influenced the decrease in the production of lamb meat. Another problem was the decline in lamb meat consumption. Nevertheless, the share of self-supply on the market was lower than 90%. The changes that took place on the lamb meat market did not affect the concentration of this production. It was still very high. In 2007–2017, the prices of lamb meat increased, while the decreases concerned a small number of countries. There was also a leveling up of prices. Across the EU, prices have risen by 16% on average. The production volume of lamb meat in EU countries was on average related to the parameters determining the potential of the economy and not related to per capita parameters. Production as well as lamb meat consumption, depend on many market factors and also on social and hard to measure factors.