Price for Meat and Sausage: This is How it is Composed

Every German consumes around 60 kilograms of meat per year. In this article, you can find out how the price for meat and sausage is made up.

Meat Price: The cost of raising animals

The expenses for rearing vary depending on the animal. Here we show you an example of the costs incurred for 1 kilogram of beef.

• A cow needs around 17,000 liters of water before it is ready for slaughter. Part of it is used as rain for grain production.
• Since rainwater is also taken into account, we assume a guide value for the water price of 0.2 euros per liter. This gives us a cost of 3.40 euros.
• In addition, the animal consumes about 13 kilograms of grain over its lifetime.
• The grain price is about 0.15 euros per kilogram. The costs add up to around 1.95 euros.
• All in all, the rearing alone costs around 5.35 euros per kilogram of beef.
• In addition, there are expenses for vaccinations and medicines, such as antibiotics.

That costs the meat processing and distribution

No exact information can be given for the costs incurred after the rearing of the animal. These vary depending on the transport company, slaughterhouse, and production facility. The following expenses must be taken into account:

• Transport and logistics costs: This includes transporting the animal to the slaughterhouse. In addition, the possible onward transport of individual pieces of meat to different processing plants.
• In addition, the ready-to-sell meat and the ready-to-sell sausage have to be transported to the branches of the food trade.
• Operating costs: Slaughterhouses and meat-processing production companies have to cover their internal costs.
• These include, for example, personnel costs, investments, maintenance costs, or energy expenditures.
• Retail: Personnel costs make up the largest share here. In addition, packaging costs must be calculated if the meat is further cut up and packaged in the branch.
• Every company involved in meat production not only has to cover its expenses but also wants to make a profit.
• Finally, a sales tax of 7 percent is added to the net price.

The price squeeze for meat and sausage

Cheap offers in the supermarket advertise with meat prices between 1.99 and 4.50 euros per kilogram of meat. In view of the costs incurred, however, meat should have a much higher price in our supermarkets. Here’s what’s behind this mismatch:

• Subsidies: Both agriculture and production companies are subsidized by the state. Otherwise, they would hardly be able to cover their costs.
• Animal husbandry: The price pressure leads to factory farming, animal transport that is not appropriate to the species, and new breeds of animals whose muscle meat grows faster.
• Remuneration: Employees in slaughterhouses and the meat processing industry are often poorly paid. Cheap workers from the east are preferably used in the factories.
• Economic pressure: Discounters in particular put a lot of pressure on producers to keep prices low. Not least because there is high consumer demand for cheap meat.