Record drop in meat consumption recorded in Germany

MEAT consumption per capita fell by 2.1 kg compared to 2020 and thus reached a new record low since consumption began to be counted in 1989.

The Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) reports that the Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BZL) has released this preliminary data. In total, meat with a slaughter weight of 8.3 million tons was produced in 2021, which is about 2.4% less than in 2020.

Per capita consumption fell for poultry, pork, beef and veal. In 2021, pork consumption per capita decreased by 1.2 kg, beef and veal by 600 g, and poultry by 200 g compared to the previous year.

The trend towards a more plant-based diet may be responsible for this decline. The continued decline in out-of-home consumption in restaurants, canteens or events due to the covid-19 pandemic may have also contributed to this decline.

As in 2020, the fall in consumption in 2021 was accompanied by a fall in meat imports. While imports of poultry meat were almost constant, imports of meat products and canned pork, beef and calves decreased by 6.8%.

In addition, foreign trade in live animals declined again in 2021, with imports notably falling by 19.6% across all animal species and exports falling by 1%, according to BLE.

The trend in foreign trade, BLE notes, affects the net production of domestically slaughtered animals. Compared to 2020, pork production was 2.4% less. Net production of beef, veal and poultry fell by 1.6%.

In Germany, according to preliminary data, the overall rate of self-sufficiency in meat in 2022 will be 121%, which means an increase of 2.5 percentage points. In the case of poultry, 96.7% of domestic demand can be covered by domestic production. The self-sufficiency rate for pork is 132.4%, for beef and veal 98.2%.