Five cheese making plants in Switzerland have had to close down since the beginning of 2011 due to reductions in cheese export sales, according to the national dairy association Swiss Milk Producers (SMP). Main reason is the very strong Swiss franc, which is making the country’s products extremely expensive in Euro currency countries. Overall export decrease in the cheese sector for the first five months of this year is “only” 3.7%. But this figure hides a dramatic fall in foreign sales of the main earner Emmental (minus 19.5% or 1,505 tonnes), with Gruyère (-4.4%) and Appenzeller (-4.2%) also under some pressure.

Total exports January to end of May ended at 23,966 tonnes while the latest SMP figures for imports of cheese (for the first six months of the year) show these have increased by 6% compared to the same period of last year with 24,679 tonnes.