Swiss cheese exports recorded second-best year in 2024

Swiss cheese reaches second-best export year in 2024 Keystone-SDA

Swiss cheese exports largely recovered in 2024 after two weak export years. A total of 79,268 tons of Swiss cheese worth CHF748.5 million was exported - a 7.9% increase in annual sales from 2023.

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With a volume of 79,268 tons, cheese exports in 2024 would have reached the second-best export year since records began, the marketing organisation Switzerland Cheese Marketing announced on Friday.

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Around 45% of Swiss milk is processed into over 700 different Swiss cheese specialties, of which almost 40% are exported to over 70 countries worldwide. Some 83% of cheese exports go to European countries. The increase here was 9.5% compared to 2023. Exports outside Europe remained stable (+0.4%). In the US market, the export volume rose by 1.4%.

All cheese categories, with the exception of processed cheese, other cheese and ready-made fondue, recorded growth in 2024.

Last year, Switzerland imported 78,646 tons of cheese. This is 5.9% more than in the previous year. Cheese is imported into Switzerland at a significantly lower price than exported. The majority of imports were fresh cheese and quark.

A significant proportion of imports are processed by the food industry and the catering trade.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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