2017 Meat Price Index

Berlin, Germany – Online catering marketplace, Caterwings, have conducted a study regarding the global price of basic food items, as preliminary research ahead of their expansion into foreign markets. The research highlighted in particular that the cost of meat around the world is remarkably varied. To share these insights, Caterwings have released the 2017 Meat Price Index, which details the cost of meat in over 50 countries worldwide. The study revealed thatSwitzerland has the highest meat prices, at 141.9% more expensive than the average cost worldwide, followed by Norway (63.7% more expensive) and Hong Kong (61% more expensive), while Ukraine has the least expensive meat prices, at 52.3% less expensive than the average cost, closely followed by Malaysia (50.3% less expensive).

To give some perspective to the data, the affordability of meat in each country was calculated to reveal the relative number of hours a person on minimum wage must work to buy each type of meat. The findings confirmed that not only does the price of meat vary massively from country to country, but there is also an enormous disparity in its accessibility for people all around the world.

To create the Index, Caterwings looked at the top meat producing and consuming countries around the world focusing on beef, chicken, seafood, pork and lamb. After reviewing hundreds of food retailers, the data was compiled by analysing meat prices in these countries’ top cities, which needed to account for at least 25% of the total population. The Index is then ranked by the deviation percentage—this shows how comparatively affordable or expensive each meat type is in each country, in comparison to the global average cost.

“What began as a simple catering cost price Index for market research has raised some important questions.” commented Caterwings Managing Director, Susannah Belcher. “It is clear that international inequality exists, and as the world begins to rethink the implications of globalisation, this study clearly demonstrates that food prices ought to be on the agenda.”

Results for United States are as follow, with the rank of each meat price below. (1 being most expensive)

United States Ranks 18 Overall

Beef

Rank

Chicken

Rank

Seafood

Rank

Pork

Rank

Lamb

Rank

Leg Round

18

Breast

14

White

4

Chop

12

Chop

14

Tenderloin

23

Leg

21

Salmon

24

Sausage

7

   

Mince

24

   

Shrimp

9

Ham

15

   

Hours to Afford at Min. Wage

2.6

Hours to Afford at Min. Wage

0.9

Hours to Afford at Min. Wage

3.3

Hours to Afford at Min. Wage

2.1

Hours to Afford at Min. Wage

3.1

Cost Compared to World Average

+8.2%

Cost Compared to World Average

+13.3%

Cost Compared to World Average

+22.4%

Cost Compared to World Average

+17.6%

Cost Compared to World Average

+28.2 %


For full results from this study please click here: https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/2017-meat-price-index-usd/

Breakdown of Results

The tables below show the top countries with the most and least expensive meat prices, based on the average cost of 1kg of meat.

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive beef prices are:

Most Expensive Beef

 

Least Expensive Beef

#

Country

Leg Round

Tenderloin

Mince

 

#

Country

Leg Round

Tenderloin

Mince

1

Switzerland

$49.68

$63.13

$20.81

 

1

India

$4.73

$13.69

$2.33

2

Hong Kong

$20.83

$71.70

$9.11

 

2

Colombia

$5.28

$13.33

$2.62

3

Norway

$28.55

$58.91

$13.55

 

3

Ukraine

$3.70

$14.14

$3.88

4

South Korea

$21.65

$57.72

$17.77

 

4

Malaysia

$5.76

$15.54

$2.55

5

Japan

$17.18

$56.18

$11.93

 

5

Egypt

$7.01

$13.46

$3.93

 

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive chicken prices are:

Most Expensive Chicken

 

Least Expensive Chicken

#

Country

Breast

Leg

 

#

Country

Breast

Leg

1

Switzerland

$27.14

$11.32

 

1

Ukraine

$2.65

$1.90

2

Norway

$13.69

$9.53

 

2

Thailand

$2.81

$2.71

3

Sweden

$14.28

$7.15

 

3

Malaysia

$2.85

$2.83

4

Finland

$11.33

$7.54

 

4

Egypt

$3.69

$2.57

5

New Zealand

$10.12

$8.21

 

5

India

$3.26

$3.13

 

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive fish prices are:

Most Expensive Seafood

 

Least Expensive Seafood

#

Country

White

Salmon

Shrimp

 

#

Country

White

Salmon

Shrimp

1

Switzerland

$19.48

$33.30

$35.84

 

1

India

$6.59

$11.74

$10.96

2

Hong Kong

$18.24

$44.32

$24.23

 

2

Vietnam

$3.92

$17.23

$10.73

3

Netherlands

$20.00

$31.93

$34.55

 

3

Malaysia

$9.17

$16.68

$7.75

4

Belgium

$19.45

$30.51

$32.59

 

4

Portugal

$5.78

$14.35

$15.15

5

Denmark

$16.54

$31.02

$33.38

 

5

Croatia

$6.62

$16.50

$14.00

 

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive pork prices are:

Most Expensive Pork

 

Least Expensive Pork

#

Country

Chop

Sausage

Ham

 

#

Country

Chop

Sausage

Ham

1

Switzerland

$20.39

$20.95

$41.92

 

1

Brazil

$4.39

$5.66

$5.03

2

Hong Kong

$18.98

$10.28

$43.99

 

2

Ukraine

$4.15

$5.05

$8.54

3

Singapore

$16.27

$13.10

$29.08

 

3

Hungary

$3.37

$3.00

$12.58

4

Japan

$14.65

$11.96

$29.01

 

4

Poland

$3.29

$5.88

$10.64

5

New Zealand

$9.00

$10.71

$35.05

 

5

Bulgaria

$4.64

$5.09

$12.15

 

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive lamb prices are:

Most Expensive Lamb

 

Least  Expensive Lamb

#

Country

Chop

 

#

Country

Chop

1

Switzerland

$48.91

 

1

Colombia

$6.89

2

Israel

$35.41

 

2

Mexico

$8.35

3

Norway

$32.91

 

3

Brazil

$8.37

4

Hong Kong

$32.35

 

4

Ukraine

$8.78

5

Japan

$31.39

 

5

Malaysia

$8.97

 

These tables are extracts from the full findings which can be found on Caterwings’ results page:https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/2017-meat-price-index-usd/

Key findings:

·         Within the top 10 most expensive countries, 4 are in Asia, and the remaining 6 are split between Northern and Western Europe.

·         Within the top 10 least expensive countries, 5 are in Asia, 2 are in Central and Southern American, 2 in Eastern Europe and 1 in Northern Africa.

·         Australian’s have the highest meat consumption at 111.5kg/person (figure refers to meat available per person per year). Indian’s have the lowest with 4.4kg/person.

·         Indians on minimum wage need to work 10.5 hours to buy the same amount of chicken that those on minimum wage in Denmark can purchase after 0.3 hours of work. Comparatively, Indians on minimum wage must also work the most hours, at 39.4, to buy pork, while Danes on minimum wage need to work only 0.7 hours.

·         Despite Indians on minimum wage needing to work the most number of hours to afford 3 types of meat, the overall price of their meat is -42.3% of the cost in comparison to other countries.

 

About Caterwings:

Founded in 2015 in London, Caterwings is active in five countries across Europe providing an online marketplace connecting customers and caterers, with offices in London and Berlin. The start-up’s mission is to simplify the ordering, booking and payment of catering services for groups from 5 up to 5000 people. Customers can browse a selection of menus listed by the caterers and either order directly online, or via the concierge service who can customise and tailor orders personally.  Add ons can include waiting staff, warming dishes and full alcohol service. The Managing Director team is made up of Dr. Alexander Brunst, Stephan Grund and Dr. Susannah Belcher. Currently Caterwings’ service is available Germany-wide, and in London, Manchester, Zurich, Vienna, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag.

Methodology

The Meat Price Index is divided into five separate categories: beef, chicken, seafood, pork, and lamb. All prices were collected from national grocery outlets at full price without discount. For each category, prices for specific cuts of meat contributed to an overall value, the overall per kilogram price for beef,  PKPi. This per kilogram price, PKPi, was divided by each country’s minimum wage1 MWito indicate how long a minimum wage employee must work for each type of meat, Hoursi:

Hoursi=PKPi/MWi.

 

Finally, cities are indexed based on the average cost of meat by country xi, and ranked according to the percentage deviation of the local price Devi from the world’s average (mean) ::

Devi=100xi-100,

A negative value of Devirepresents the percentile deviation below the world’s mean, whereas a positive value of Devirepresents a positive deviation of the mean. E.g., 145% implies that the PKPiof the country is 145% more expensive than the world’s average PKP.

Category Specifications

 

Beef

Leg Round – 1kg back leg meat, Tenderloin – 1kg tenderloin meat, Mince – 1kg minced beef, 10-20% fat.

Chicken

Breast – 1kg breast filet, Leg – 1kg leg or thigh quarter.

Seafood*

White Fish – 1kg tilapia, cod, or pangasius filet, Salmon – 1kg salmon steak or filet, with or without skin, Shrimp – 1kg average shrimp prices based on market availability by variety (e.g. whiteleg shrimp, coral shrimp, tiger prawn) in each country. Raw and unpeeled when available.

*For countries in which fresh seafood may not be available, average prices were based on frozen products.

*Shrimp is not widely sold in Israel and thus, was not included in the ranking. In this case, the absence of shrimp prices did not affect the country’s overall standing in the Index.

Pork*

Chop – 1kg bone-out chop cut, Sausage – 1kg ground pork sausage, uncooked, Ham – 1kg large baked, smoked, or honeyed bone-in ham.

*Pork is banned in many countries due to religious reasons. Some specialty stores may still sell this type of meat, but as it is not widely available, pork was not included in the rankings of certain countries. In this case, the absence of pork prices did not affect the country’s overall standing in the Index.

Lamb

Chop – 1kg chop or loin chop cut, according to availability.

Meat Consumption – the average meat consumption, measured in kilograms per person, according to a study on per capita meat carcass mass availability by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

All meat and fish prices reported per kilogram for non-organic products. Data accurate on 15 July 2017, with currency conversions from Bloomberg Markets.

1The federal hourly minimum wage by country was used to calculate the working hours needed to purchase each type of meat. If the country has no federal minimum wage, as in the case of Finland or Singapore, prices reflect an average salary for a job in general or unskilled labor. For more information, please contact pablo@abcd.agency.

Source: Caterwings