Swiss long-life baked goods: more imports, fewer exports

According to the association Biscosuisse, the industry’s turnover decreased by 0.6% to CHF 441.0 m, while the production volume rose by 1.5% to 43,216 tonnes. The domestic business improved slightly compared to the previous year. While the sales volume increased by 2.4% to 32,841 tonnes, turnover rose by 1.3% to CHF 355.6 m.

Imports increased strongly: around 12% more standard biscuit products and specialities were imported in 2020, which generated a significant increase (more than 5%) in per capita consumption to around 5.5 kg. The import share in the Swiss market of standard biscuit goods and specialities now stands at 52.5%, which means that the market share of these imported goods rose by 5.2%.

The 2020 foreign trade statistics of the Federal Customs Administration for baked goods recorded an overall decline in export turnover of 16.5% (CHF 113.4 m) for baked goods products (in addition to long-life baked goods such as biscuits, bread-like baked goods, savoury snacks and nibbles or meringues, the foreign trade statistics also include other baked goods and confectioneries). The exported volume decreased by 9.0% to 13,257 tonnes.

The declines were less pronounced for the 21 Biscosuisse-reporting companies: their export turnover decreased by 7.4% overall to CHF 85.3 m, while their export volume went down by 1.0% to 10,375 tonnes.

The list of export destinations for Swiss biscuits contained 62 countries in 2020 – down from 70 in 2019 and even 85 in 2018. The top destination for Swiss exports in 2020 was again Germany, followed by France, Saudi Arabia and the USA.