Switzerland’s exports of its world-renowned cheeses have been exceeded by foreign imports for the first time.
The situation leaves the small mountainous country’s dairy industry in a perilous situation, Boris Beuret, the head of the national dairy association, has said.
Speaking to the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, he warned that the current system had reached its limits and that Switzerland can no longer afford to watch dairy farms “disappear” due to insufficient remuneration for farmers.
“This is the result of a liberalisation process that began at the end of the 1990s and is more far-reaching than for cereals or meat,” said Beuret, cautioning that relying on imported cheese “would be an economic, social and ecological absurdity”.
In April, Switzerland exported 4,872 tons of cheese and imported 5,600 tons, according to official Swiss figures.
The opening up of the Swiss milk market has seen a drop in domestic market share, while supermarket prices have failed to keep pace with production costs, observers say. At the same time, cheese consumption in Switzerland has increased to 22.9 kg per person in 2022.
Beuret has called on Switzerland’s consumers to embrace “proper” financial reward for their dairy farmers if they want sustainable production.
While Switzerland is not part of the European Union, it is one of its “key economic partners”, notes the Delegation of the European Union to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In 2020, Switzerland was the EU’s fourth-largest trading partner after China, the US and the UK.
The EU’s economic and trade relations with Switzerland are governed by the free trade agreement of 1972 and by the bilateral agreements of 1999, the delegation notes. These agreements mandate “the opening of markets for public procurement, air transport, and road and rail transport of passengers and goods”.
The situation for Swiss cheese makers has not been helped by a recent US court of appeals decision that the term “gruyere” cannot be reserved for that type of cheese on the US market.
In effect that ends Europe’s previous monopoly on the cheese, which is traditionally made in both Switzerland and France.
