According to preliminary estimates from the Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL), average annual meat consumption reached 54.9 kg per person. Despite the increase, this level remains significantly below that of 2011, when it stood at 63.8 kg.
Pork continues to dominate, accounting for around 52% of total consumption. In 2025, Germans consumed an average of 28.3 kg of pork per person — a figure that has remained relatively stable in recent years, although lower than in 2021.
At the same time, poultry consumption reached a historic high of 14.7 kg per capita. Beef and veal consumption also rose slightly to 9.7 kg, although still below previous levels.
Despite growing consumption, total meat production in the country declined slightly by 0.3% to 7.3 million tonnes. In contrast, pork production recorded a modest increase of 1.1%.
Despite a high pork self-sufficiency rate of around 139%, Germany continues to rely on meat imports. This is because self-sufficiency is calculated for the whole carcass, while demand for specific premium cuts, such as tenderloin and ham, is covered at only around 80%.
Thus, the German meat market reflects both rising consumption and structural imbalances between production and demand, sustaining the need for imports even at a high overall level of self-sufficiency.
PigUA.info based on pigprogress.net