Swiss cheese sees exports increase
The record year of 2020 for Swiss cheese exports was exceeded in 2021, by 6.9%. Only the processed cheese and ready-made fondue categories suffered losses in the country.
Overall, revenues for the Swiss cheese industry (dairy farmers, cheese makers, refiners, trade) in 2021 was CHF 756.7 million (€727.5m), which corresponds to an increase of +9.1% compared to the same period in 2020. This increase is due on the one hand to the uptick in export volumes, but on the other hand to price increases. At CHF9.18/kg (wholesale price), the average export price was higher than 2020 (CHF9/kg).
Likewise, more Swiss cheese was produced in 2021 and demand continued to rise sharply in 2021.
Around 47% of Swiss milk is processed into over 700 different Swiss cheese specialities. Almost 40% of this is exported to over 70 countries worldwide.
The main market for Swiss cheese is Europe, with 82% of the exported volume or 67,895 tons, an increase of 7.9%. Of this, Germany imports 34,804 tons of Swiss cheese. This corresponds to a good half of the total volume that is exported to Europe. This is followed by Italy with 11,548 tons and France with 6,731 tons of Swiss cheese.
Exports to outside of Europe increased again in 2021, when a total of 14,575 tons of Swiss cheese or 2.6% were exported outside of Europe. In particular, the US market grew by 6.5% to a total of 9,716 tons.
Swiss cheese benefits from consumer trends of naturalness, craftsmanship and tradition. The Swiss specialities were also able to benefit from the increasing vegetarian consumption trend in 2021. With its values and high-quality Swiss milk, Swiss cheese meets the expectations of consumers at home and abroad particularly well.
Although the import statistics also show an increase of 5.7% in 2021, the import growth has fallen sharply compared to 2020. A total of 75,774 tons of cheese were imported in 2021, which corresponds to a quantitative increase of +4,076 tons. In comparison, this increase in 2020 was around 7,529 tons.
Imports come from Europe, in particular from Italy (26,744t, +4.5%), Germany (20,535t, +4.9%) and France (13,580t, +0.7%).
In terms of value, CHF 487.7 million (+7.8%) was spent on imported cheese in 2021. The average import price in 2021 was CHF 6.44 per kg (wholesale price). Switzerland therefore imports much cheaper cheese than it exports.
The majority of imports come from the ‘fresh cheese and quark’ category with 31,368 tons or 41.4% of total imports. This category has also increased the most with an increase of +10.9% and a wholesale price of 4.68 CHF/kg.
In this context, it should be noted that the range of inexpensive imported products has changed significantly since 2020. For example, price-sensitive consumers can now also find the cheeses they previously bought abroad, on the shelves of Swiss retailers.
