Germany’s meat production drops again in 2023

Meat production in Germany fell “significantly” in 2023, the country’s Federal Statistical Office said.

Data from Destatis said Germany’s meat production decreased 4% last year to 6.8m tonnes.

The “preliminary” figures meant “domestic meat production has fallen for the seventh year in a row since its peak in 2016 [of] 8.25m tonnes”, Destatis said.

Figures showed 47.9m pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses were processed last year. The data highlighted 702.2m chickens, turkeys and ducks were slaughtered.

However, the number of pigs slaughtered decreased 6.8% to 43.8m. There was an identical drop in the tonnage processed at slaughterhouses to 4.2m tonnes.

According to Destatis, the number of pigs of domestic origin slaughtered in Germany fell 7.7% to almost 42.3m. Imported pigs rose 19.5% to 1.5m animals, it added.

The number of cattle slaughtered commercially stayed almost stagnant in 2023, dipping 0.3% to 3m animals.

However, slaughter weights have slightly increased in “all cattle categories”, Destatis said. The volume of processed beef inched up 0.6% to 992,900 tonnes.

The quantity of poultry meat processed increased by 1.4% to 1.6m tonnes in 2023. Turkey meat production increased by 2.7% to 417,000 tons.

Federal data on meat consumption in Germany in 2023 has yet to be published.

In 2022, the country saw a decline in per-capita meat consumption of 4.2kg to just under 52kg.

Just Food