Germany: Further drop in meat consumption in 2021

According to preliminary data from the Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BZL), per capita meat consumption fell by 2.1 kilograms compared to 2020 and is thus at a new all-time low. In 2021, per capita consumption fell by 1.2 kilograms of pork, 600 grams of beef, and 200 grams of poultry meat compared to the previous year.

As in the previous year, the drop in consumption was accompanied by a decrease in imports of meat, meat products, and canned pork and beef (-6.8%). Imports of poultry meat remained stable.

In addition, the volume of foreign trade of live animals declined again in 2021: imports fell by almost one-fifth (19.6%) across all animal species, and exports fell by 1%.

Foreign trade trends impact animal slaughtering in the country: compared to 2020, 2.4% less pork was produced. For beef and poultry, production fell by 1.6%.

According to preliminary figures, in 2021 the degree of self-sufficiency in meat was 121%, an increase of 2.5%. The self-sufficiency rate for pork was 132.4% and 98.2% for beef. In the case of poultry, 96.7% of domestic demand can be met by domestic production.