April 4, 2022

Germany's per capita meat consumption dropped 2.1kg last year

Germany's 2021 per capita meat consumption fell by 2.1 kilogrammes compared to 2020, a new all-time low, according to preliminary data from the Federal Information Center for Agriculture.

Last year, per capita consumption fell by 1.2 kilogrammes of pork, 600 grams of beef and 200 grams of poultry meat compared to the previous year.

As in the previous year, the drop in consumption was accompanied by a decrease in imports of meat, meat products and canned pork and beef (-6.8%). Imports of poultry meat remained stable.

Additionally, the volume of foreign trade of live animals declined again in 2021: imports fell by almost one-fifth (19.6%) across all animal species and exports fell by 1%.

Foreign trade trends impact animal slaughtering in Germany; compared to 2020, 2.4% less pork was produced. For beef and poultry, production fell by 1.6%.

According to preliminary figures, in 2021, Germany's degree of self-sufficiency in meat was 121%, an increase of 2.5%. The self-sufficiency rate for pork was 132.4% and 98.2% for beef.

For poultry, 96.7% of domestic demand can be met by domestic production.

- BLE (Germany)