In 2023, Germany saw a significant drop in meat production, according to the country’s Federal Statistical Office. Data from Destatis revealed a 4% decrease in meat production to 6.8m tonnes, marking the seventh consecutive year of decline since the peak in 2016 at 8.25m tonnes.
The decline in meat production is reflected in the processing of 47.9m pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, and horses, as well as 702.2m chickens, turkeys, and ducks during the year. Specifically, the number of pigs slaughtered decreased by 6.8% to 43.8m, with a corresponding drop in the tonnage processed at slaughterhouses to 4.2m tonnes. Notably, the number of pigs of domestic origin slaughtered in Germany fell by 7.7% to almost 42.3m, while the number of imported pigs rose by 19.5% to 1.5m animals.
Though the quantity of cattle slaughtered remained relatively stable in 2023, there was a marginal increase in slaughter weights across all cattle categories. Additionally, there was a slight upturn in processed beef volume, increasing by 0.6% to 992,900 tonnes.
Furthermore, poultry meat processing saw a 1.4% increase to 1.6m tonnes last year, with turkey meat production rising by 2.7% to 417,000 tons. However, federal data on meat consumption in Germany for 2023 has yet to be released. In 2022, the country experienced a decline in per-capita meat consumption of 4.2kg, falling just under 52kg.
