More and more German, Brazilian and Belgian meat on Dutch market

In the first quarter of 2002, 526 million euro worth of meat was imported into the Netherlands, up from 315 million euro five years previously. The import value of meat and meat products has thus increased by two-thirds.

Meat from Germany, Brazil and Belgium in particular is increasingly popular among Dutch consumers. Meat imports from Ireland, too, have risen strongly in the period 1997 to 2002: from eleven million euro in the first quarter of 1997 to 36 million euro in the first quarter of 2002. On the other hand, the value of meat imports from Argentina fell by nearly forty percent to 6.7 million euro.

Meat imports and exports, 1st quarter

Exports also up slightly

The export value of livestock products was nearly 2.7 billion euro in the first quarter of 2002. This is slightly higher than in the same period twelve months previously. Livestock products are important for the Dutch export sector: by comparison, the total export value of natural gas in the first quarter of 2002 was 1.8 billion euro.

International trade in livestock products

In spite of setbacks in livestock farming, the value of both imports and exports of livestock products has increased in the last five years.

The import value of livestock products even increased substantially, from 3.8 billion euro in 1996 to 5.2 billion euro in 2001. This increase was mainly caused by a considerable increase in the value of imported meat.

The export value of livestock products rose from 9.8 to 11.2 billion euro. Here the increase was mainly driven by an increase in exports of dairy products: from 4.1 to 5.1 billion euro in the last five years.

Cor Pierik