Albanians lead the region and among the first globally for the consumption of small meat

2024-04-24 12:32:00, Ekonomi CNA

Albanians lead the region and among the first globally for the consumption of

Illustrative photo

Albania has the highest level of consumption of sheep and goat meat per capita in the Region and is among the first in the global ranking (see the chart below, according to data derived from the consumption methodology of the World Food and Agriculture Organization of the Nations United Nations (FAO).

The data that was referenced from an FAO study on livestock in the Region show that an Albanian consumed an average of 8.68 kilograms of mutton and goat meat per year in 2020.

Consumption in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia was among the lowest at an average of 0.61 kg and 0.7 kg/capita per year, respectively, even lower than the global average of 1.99 kg/capita. Serbia and Montenegro have a modest consumption of 3.3 kg and 2.38 kg/ per capita per year, respectively.

The survey with goat and sheep farmers shows that the meat of small animals is mostly focused on the families that breed them.

The FAO study shows that Albania's consumption expanded rapidly until 2019, when it began to decline. This decrease in meat consumption has also been accompanied by a decrease in the number of small cattle, which has suffered a sharp decrease in recent years.

Serbia ranks second after Albania for the consumption of small meat per capita, but with an upward trend during the last decade. Bosnia and Herzegovina has had a consistently low consumption of sheep and goat meat during 2010-2019, at around 0.5 kg/head per year.

Looking at the general structure of meat consumption in the Western Balkans, different trends are observed and Albania does not lead. Montenegro ranks first with 76.8 kg of meat per capita per year, Serbia with 61.5 kg, Albania 40.71 kg, North Macedonia 37.8 kg and Bosnia and Herzegovina 37.8 kg.

In Albania, beef is the most consumed, followed by poultry, and sheep and goat meat. North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have a similar consumption structure where poultry accounts for 50% of the meat consumed.

For Serbia and Montenegro, pork accounts for about 60 percent of total meat consumed per capita, followed by poultry accounting for 21 percent and then beef.

The FAO study notes that the number of small animals has been decreasing in the Balkans. Albania, as the country with the largest number of small animals in the Region, has recorded the largest decrease, especially in sheep from 1.97 million heads in 2016 to 1.48 million in 2021. In the same period, the population of sheep in Serbia remained constant, at around 1.7 million./ Monitor