Changing Swiss cheese demands

The Swiss consumed 204,000 tons of cheese last year, which is roughly the same as in 2021, so the per capita consumption fell slightly by 1.3% to 22.9 kilos. In a long-term comparison, there has been an increase of around 10% since 2007, according to the latest figures from Swiss milk producers, Agristat, TSM Treuhand and Switzerland Cheese Marketing.

On average each person consumes 8.46kg of cream cheese and quark, with another 3.3kg being mozzarella.

Speciality cheeses made from goat’s, sheep’s or buffalo’s milk have become much more popular in recent years and the per capita consumption was 200g for those.

The annual consumption of semi-hard cheeses (for example Raclette, Appenzeller and Tilsiter) has also increased over the past 15 years, so last year each person ate 6.42kg of cheese from this category.

In the case of hard cheese (for example Alpine cheese and Gruyère AOP) consumption remained stable compared to the previous year. In the last 15 years, hard cheese consumption has fallen from 4.11 to 3.79kg per capita.