Study compares the cost of BBQ favourites in over 50 countries worldwide, and the number of hours at minimum wage to afford various cuts in each location
Switzerland has the highest beef prices in the world, at 149.3 per cent more expensive than the average worldwide cost.
India, Ukraine, Brazil and Colombia have the least expensive beef and fish, chicken, pork and lamb respectively.
Danes only need to work 1 hour on minimum wage to afford a serving of beef, while Indonesians on minimum wage must work 23.6 hours.
Press release
With summer in mind, online catering marketplace Caterwings have conducted a study revealing the cost of favourite BBQ meat items in over 50 countries worldwide. The study reveals that Switzerland has the highest meat prices, at 141.9 per cent more expensive than the average cost worldwide, followed by Norway (63.7 per cent more expensive) and Hong Kong (61 per cent more expensive), while Ukraine has the least expensive meat prices, at 52.3 per cent less expensive than the average cost, closely followed by Malaysia (50.3 per cent less expensive).
To give 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 do the price of BBQ favourites vary massively from country to country, but there is also an enormous disparity in the quantity of meats consumed 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 per cent 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.
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. Full results can be found here: https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/meat-price-index-usd/.
The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive beef prices are:
The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive chicken prices are:
The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive pork prices are:
The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive fish prices are:
The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive lamb prices are:
These tables are extracts from the full findings which can be found on Caterwings’ results page: https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/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 per cent of the cost in comparison to other countries.
