Meat consumption increased in 2003

Despite the hot summer, Germans consumed noticeably more meat last year than in 2002. The comparatively low level of consumer prices certainly favored the rise. According to calculations by the Federal Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the ZMP, meat consumption in Germany increased by almost three percent in 2003. For the first time since the BSE crisis, more than 90 kilograms were consumed per capita – to be precise, it was 90,7 kilograms. In an EU comparison, Germany thus occupies a place in the lower midfield: On average in the old EU-15, almost 98 kilograms of meat were consumed per inhabitant last year. In 2003, human consumption (after deducting losses, industrial utilization and animal feed) was 61,5 kilograms per capita in Germany.

The increase in meat consumption in 2003 was observed for all types of meat. Only lamb was asked for a little more cautiously. Pork, with a share of 60 percent, is at the top of the consumer favourites, consumption of which increased by more than a kilogram to 55,1 kilograms last year. Poultry meat was also in demand and also increased by one kilogram to 10,8 kilograms. In the case of beef, the BSE crisis hardly played a role anymore; due to greater consumer confidence, per capita consumption rose to 12,8 kilograms.

Higher imports cover demand

In 2003, the greater demand for meat could only be partially covered by higher in-house production: gross in-house production increased by just 0,1 percent to a total of over 6,88 million tons. Although as much domestic pork and poultry meat has never been produced as in 2003, the increase in production was not sufficient to meet overall demand. The additional market demand was met by higher meat imports, which grew by 3,2 percent to 2,41 million tons, outpacing exports, which grew by 0,6 percent to 1,88 million tons.

For beef, the recovery in demand was offset by a significant decline in domestic production. Higher imports, a smaller export volume and the liquidation of inventories balanced the market.

There were strong movements in the foreign trade in live animals. While imports rose by 18 percent, exports fell to the same extent. The sharp increase in imports was primarily due to the significantly increased deliveries of live pigs from Holland and Denmark. In exports, the quantity of pigs and poultry, converted into slaughter weight, fell clearly. There were slight gains in cattle due to strong exports of calves to the Netherlands.

Since overall consumption increased faster than internal production in 2003, the level of self-sufficiency fell by three percentage points to 92 percent.

Source: Bonn [ZmP]