Upcoming Trade Shows in Germany for Livestock & Poultry

Germany’s livestock and poultry industry has seen some remarkable changes over the last twenty years as a direct result of changing preferences and external factors influencing the nation’s meat consumption. Here’s a breakdown of the trends across pork, poultry, beef, sheep, and goat meat. Pork continues to reign supreme as Germany’s preferred meat, although it’s been a gradually shrinking market over the past two decades. Germans consume a little under 15 kilograms less of pork per year from almost 55 to 40.2 kilograms between 1999 and 2022. This hasn’t been a smooth decline as the slaughter volume hit a peak of 5.6 million tons in 2016 before nosediving all the way to 4.5 million tons in 2022 due to the swine fever outbreak in Africa. Germany’s resilience as a net pork exporter persists due to the regional concept within the EU, which enables trade from unaffected regions. Poultry meat experiences a remarkable surge in both production and consumption, outpacing beef in importance. Slaughter volume skyrocketed from 748,000 tons in 1999 to 1.6 million tons in 2022. Germans consumed 1.8 million tons of poultry in 2022, which amounts to a per capita intake of nearly 22 kg. Beef production witnessed a decline from just under 1.3 million tons in 2000 to 1.06 million tons in 2022. Per capita consumption hovered around 12.7 kg in 2022, showcasing general stability in beef preferences despite earlier dips linked to BSE and foot-and-mouth disease concerns. Sheep and goat meat consumption is perhaps the smallest within the country, but is a stable niche. These farms contribute about 29,600 tons to slaughter volume and just a bit under 71,000 tons to consumption. Per capita consumption for this category is 0.84 kg annually, indicating a distinct and limited market presence. What it lacks in scale, it more than compensates in stability.