Swiss ate more meat in 2013, says industry association

06-Apr-2014 - Last updated on 07-Apr-2014 at 08:40 GMT

Average Swiss consumers ate almost 52kg of meat in 2013, up 0.4% from what they consumed in 2012, according to Proviande, the trade association of Swiss meat producers.

Swiss residents ate a total of 426,771 tonnes (t) of meat in 2013 compared to 421,059t in 2012, head of IT and statistics at Proviande Mike Schneider told GlobalMeatNews. But when compared to 2011, Schneider said the consumption had actually fallen from a total of 430,899t, where the average meat consumption was at 53.53kg. Most likely, consumption levels will remain stable this year, he added.

And in Switzerland, pork is a significant favourite over beef and poultry: an average person ate 23.46kg pork, and this is more than double the amount of 11.50kg of beef consumed in 2013, while the average poultry consumption remained at 11.42kg, slightly up from 11.32kg in 2012, according to Proviande data.

The country produced 180,144t of pork locally in 2013. But it imported 14,406t of pork which is a 50.1% hike compared to 9,595t of pork imports in 2012, according to Proviande.

Mutton and lamb were among the least-favoured meats: an average Switzerland consumer ate only 1.15kg in 2013, down from 1.19kg in 2012.