October 25, 2011
Finland's meat imports double
Finland's meat imports fell by a couple of percent in the early part of 2011 from a year ago; however, meat imports have more than doubled compared to the early part of the 21st century.
Slightly less than a fifth of the meat consumed in Finland is imported. In 2010, approximately 41 million kilogrammes of meat was imported into Finland.
The most common import countries include Germany and Poland. Moreover, meat imports from the Netherlands have gone up by nearly 40% in 2011.
Of imported meat, almost 40% is pork, despite overproduction in Finland. Finnish food industry company HK Ruokatalo's CEO Jari Leija said meat importers consider Finnish pork too expensive. HKScan imports 10,000 kilogrammes of beef into Finland weekly because the company does not get enough domestic beef from Finland.
The biggest importer from countries outside the EU is PNM Pan Nordic Meat that imports four to five million kilogrammes of meat per year.