Germany sees production decline

The Federation of German Meat Industry (BVDF) told Globalmeatnews.com​ that despite the fall in production, consumption per capita has remained stable and was affected only slightly by higher prices and poor weather.

Pork maintained good production and accounted for almost 68% of the market share in 2012. Poultry and beef followed, holding 18% and 14% respectively, while other meats, such as sheep and goat, accounted for only 0.3% of the market share.

According to the BVDF, pork stood strong because slaughter levels were at their highest since 2000 - up 2.3% - with 58.2m head processed last year. However, yield was down by 2.5% on 2011 and fell just short of 5.5mt in 2012.

Meanwhile, long-term trends for beef production continued from 2011 into 2012, although slaughter levels fell by 1.6% to 3.62m carcasses. As with pork, beef carcass weight was lower in 2012 than in 2011, leading to a decrease in production of 1.9% to 1.14mt.

Consumer choice​

Although pork and beef maintained positive figures year on year, consumption of poultry meat shrank from 11kg per capita in 2011 to just 300g per capita in 2012. Beef, on the other hand, held its 8.9kg per capita status, despite significant price increases, said BVDF, and pork came out on top with per capita consumption standing at 37.9kg.