STRATEGY ▶▶▶
Swiss consumer preferences boost domestic production
According to a recent survey by the Federal Office of Agriculture, consumers in Switzerland have a clear preference for eggs and poultrymeat of Swiss origin and are willing to pay significantly more for them. This growing preference is seeing the domestic industry expand. What factors have played a role in this Swiss preference for home-produced products and how does this affect the Swiss laying hen and broiler sector?
T BY MARLEEN TEULING
he share of domestically-produced poultrymeat and eggs sold on the Swiss market has gradually risen in recent decades as the country’s consumers have in- creasingly expressed a preference for locally-pro-
duced food. According to the recent survey, three-quarters of consumers prefer locally-produced eggs and more than half the respondents prefer eating poultrymeat produced on Swiss soil. Supporting Swiss farmers is stated as a major rea- son, along with the fact that animal welfare, the environment and the superior quality of Swiss products are important to them. And the Swiss are also willing to pay up to three or four times the price of imported products for their perception of high quality and animal-friendly Swiss-produced products.
Types of consumers According to Dr Gianna Lazzarini of the Organic Agriculture Re- search Institute FiBL Switzerland, many consumers in Switzer- land are concerned about the origin of food products, their in- gredients and labelling, and are willing to pay more for better quality. But there are also price-sensitive consumers whose buying behaviour is mainly price driven. As Dr Lazzarini ex- plains, “Swiss consumers value the so called ‘Swissness’ of prod- ucts. The general perception is that products from our own country are of superior quality. This halo-effect is very strong.” “Of course, there is not just one type of consumer in Switzer- land,” agrees Cornel Herrmann of the Federal Office for
6 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 2, 2020
Imports are cheaper Most imported products tend to be significantly cheaper than those produced on Swiss soil. The agricultural sector notes that these higher costs are due to the fact that Swiss produc- ers have to work to more stringent legal requirements than their foreign competitors, particularly where animal welfare and housing systems are concerned. Production prices are also generally higher than those across its borders. Swiss tar- iffs on food and beverage imports are designed to protect lo- cal farmers who generally have smaller farms than interna- tional competitors. However, appropriate contingency plans have been developed for the poultry market because Switzer- land cannot meet the country’s demand just from its domes- tic production. “Import tariffs are important for the Swiss agri- cultural market,” says Cornel Herrmann, “but the poultrymeat and egg market depends on imports, so a limited quantity of these products can be imported at a lower tax rate”. Stability in the sector is fostered through a contract system along with close cooperation between producers and buyers. Only what the market needs is imported. On average 37% of eggs is imported. “In the egg and poultrymeat market we can regulate the imported supply. The poultrymeat and egg mar- kets are fully integrated along the value chain. Since egg pro- duction can be easily planned and regulated, and producers and buyers work together closely, the number of imported eggs can be adjusted in line with the expected domestic production,” Hermann explains.
Agriculture (FOAG). “There is a market for cheaper, imported eggs in Switzerland.” Compared with Swiss eggs, the price of imported eggs is low but the housing restrictions are not as strict as those under Swiss regulations. “The number of price-sensitive consumers in Switzerland is much smaller than in most other countries. Swiss consumers are very inter- ested in organically produced and high quality products and are willing to pay a considerably higher price for organic products.” In 2018 in the Swiss retail market a fresh organic egg cost three times the price of an imported egg, when consumers paid 81 cents and 24 cents per egg, respectively.
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