Germany is still an important hub for the global trade in natural casings. Import and export flourish. In 2020, German companies in the natural casing industry traded 227,832 tons of goods. Compared to the previous year (225,088 tons), the trading volume has increased. Sales fell to the Zentralverband Naturdarm e. V. (ZVN) is 7.4 percent lower with 892,528 million euros. 459,734 million euros for the import of goods compared to 432,794 million euros for export goods.<\/p>\n
Over 60 percent of the quantity of goods and over 50 percent of the turnover generated are accounted for by trade within the EU. The most important trading partners for Germany are the Netherlands with Rotterdam as a major transit port and Poland as the country in which casings are processed. There are also close partnerships with Italy and France. There, the demand for high-quality natural casings is traditionally high due to regional sausage production.<\/p>\n
There were already serious restrictions in trade with China due to the corona crisis at the beginning of 2020: From a complete standstill in numerous companies to ports that were closed for weeks to delays due to time-consuming follow-up controls, there were a few hurdles to overcome in order to ensure the delivery of goods.<\/p>\n
Chinese partner companies reacted quickly and pre-booked transport capacities despite enormous additional costs. Due to these problems, freight costs have risen sharply (up to fourfold per container) and, according to the chairman of the ZVN Heike Molkenthin, have a considerable effect on the margins of German companies. Before the late autumn of this year, the situation is not expected to ease.<\/p>\n
For customers in Germany, the natural casing has always been a typical quality feature of artisanal sausage products. In addition, natural, sustainable products are trendy. Many consumers pay more attention to quality and are willing to pay more for good food.<\/p>\n