SWITZERLAND

Switzerland: Meat supply increased in 2024

In 2024, the total meat supply in Switzerland amounted to 453,212 tonnes, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year. While domestic production declined slightly overall, imports increased significantly. The domestic share of total supply thus fell to 79.6% (previous year: 82.9%).

Posted on Mar 25 ,00:25

Poultry supply increased particularly strongly (+9.1%), continuing its upward trend of recent years. Beef supply was also higher (+2.8%) than in the previous year. Pork recorded a moderate increase of 1.8%, stabilizing after the turbulence in the pork market of recent years.

Beef and poultry increase, pork stable

The meat supply in Switzerland shows clear trends:

• Beef: Supply grew by 2.8% to just under 100,000 tons. Both domestic production and imports increased slightly.
• Veal: A slight decline in production and lower imports led to a 1.4% decline in supply.
• Pork: While domestic production fell by 3.1%, imports increased by 40%, increasing total supply by 1.8%.
• Poultry: With a 9.1% increase in supply, the long-term growth trend for poultry continued. Both domestic production and imports increased.
• Sheep and lamb: Supply fell by 2.2%, mainly due to lower domestic production.
• Horse meat: While domestic production grew slightly, imports declined, resulting in an overall supply decline of 5.7%.
• Game: Total supply decreased by 5.7%, mainly due to lower imports.

Stable meat supply

The latest figures once again confirm that the per capita meat supply in Switzerland has remained largely stable over the past few years. In 2024, the Swiss population grew by 0.9%, while the total per capita supply increased by 2.9%. This largely offset the decline in 2023.

Declining domestic share, lost added value

The overall slightly lower domestic production and the significantly higher imports mean that a portion of the added value is shifted abroad and lost to the domestic meat industry. The meat industry's goal remains to conduct meat production and processing in line with demand and, wherever possible and sensible, in Switzerland. The policy of preventing market-oriented domestic production, as is evident, for example, in the construction of new poultry fattening halls, leads to income and added value losses for the Swiss agriculture and meat industry. This must be counteracted in the further development of agricultural policy.

Supply does not equal consumption

When interpreting data on meat supply and consumption, misunderstandings and misjudgments often arise. It is important to understand that the annual "meat supply" does not correspond to the amount actually consumed. Rather, the statistics presented here refer to the amount of ready-to-sell meat that is generally available in restaurants and retail outlets, among other places.

Surveys such as the federal government's national consumption study from 2014/2015, as well as more recent comparable studies in neighboring countries, show that only around 75 to 80% of the available meat is actually consumed by the population. The remainder of the available meat quantity is due to unavoidable losses such as bones and fat trimmings, discarded food that falls under "food waste," or meat fed to dogs and cats.

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