There are approximately 80,000 farmers and ranchers in the U.S. that produce 100 million pounds of lamb each year for the U.S. market. Roughly 40 percent of American Lamb is sold into foodservice and 60 percent into retail. Lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand represent approximately half of total lamb supplies in the U.S.
Per capita consumption of lamb in the U.S. has remained steady over the past 10 years at approximately one pound per person. According to FreshLook Marketing data, fresh lamb sales (pounds sold) in the latest 52 week ending June 14, 2015, increased 2.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago while total fresh meat sales decreased by 2.7 percent. The top-selling retail cuts by pounds sold are leg, shoulder and loin. The highest consumption of lamb is in the Northeast, Southeast and California — accounting for 70 percent of total U.S. lamb sales.