Consumption of liquid dairy products on wane

The consumption of liquid milk products among the people in Finland has been declining for several decades, according to the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities published by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Last year, the consumption of liquid milk decreased by 4 per cent from the previous year.

The consumption of skimmed milk decreased by 5 per cent and the consumption of low-fat milk by 4 per cent, while the consumption of whole milk remained unchanged.

All in all, an average of 98 litres of milk was consumed per capita last year. The shares of different types of milk of the total consumption remained unchanged, with low-fat milk at 57 per cent, skimmed milk at 30 per cent and whole milk at just over 10 per cent.

According to preliminary calculations, the consumption of liquid dairy products was roughly 144 kilograms per capita last year. The consumption of e.g. sour milk and cream decreased slightly from the previous year, while the consumption of other soured cream products and yoghurt increased slightly.

The overall use of liquid dairy products decreased moderately, by about 3 per cent. The consumption of liquid dairy products has dropped by roughly 13 per cent during the last five years.

Last year, people in Finland consumed an average of 144 kilograms of liquid milk products, 79 kilograms of meat, 81 kilograms of cereals, 12 kilograms of eggs, 15 kilograms of fish, 65 kilograms of fruit and 64 kilograms of vegetables.

In recent years, the total consumption of cereals has been stable.

According to the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities, the consumption has been slightly less or slightly more than 80 kilograms per capita. According to preliminary calculations, the consumption of cereals was roughly 81 kilograms per capita in 2020.

“The amount decreased slightly from the previous year, which was mainly due to a decline in the consumption of oats. The consumption amounts of other cereals remained approximately unchanged. People in Finland consumed 8.5 kilograms of oats per capita last year. The peak in the consumption of oats so far was in 2019, at roughly 9.4 kilograms per capita. In 2020, the consumption of wheat was 44, rye 15.4, barley 1.8 and rice 7 kilograms per capita”, said senior specialist Erja Mikkola from Luke.

According to the calculations for the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities, the total consumption of meat was 79.2 kilograms per capita last year, when game and offal are also taken into account. The total consumption decreased by 0.5 per cent from the previous year. The meat consumption figures reported in the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities also include bones, i.e., they are calculated as carcass meat. The weight of cooked meat is around 50 per cent of the weight of carcass meat.

The consumption of red meat has already decreased several years in a row, while the consumption of poultry meat has increased. Last year, 27.5 kilograms of poultry meat was consumed per capita, 1 kilogram more than in 2019. At the same time, the consumption of pork decreased by approximately 1 kilogram to 29.7 kilograms per capita. Last year, 18.6 kilograms of beef was eaten on average, which is nearly the same amount as in the previous year.

The consumption of cheese increased slightly from the previous year to approximately 25 kilograms. At 3.3 kilograms per capita, the consumption of butter was at the previous year’s level.

The total consumption of fish remained at about 15 kilograms per capita. The consumption of canned fish decreased slightly from the previous year. No major changes have taken place in several years in the total consumption of fish. The consumption of eggs has long been 10–12 kilograms per capita, but last year it increased to 12.4 kilograms. The increase from the previous year was 0.5 kilograms.

The consumption of fresh fruit was 58 kilograms per capita. In total, 6.5 kilograms of fruit preserves and dried fruit were consumed per capita. The per capita consumption of fresh vegetables was estimated to be 64 kilograms, while the calculated consumption in the previous year was 66 kilograms. However, the amount is only indicative and also contains potential waste.