Ireland eats more meat as production and exports fall
Total meat consumption in Ireland rose by 4% in 2025 to 102kg per person but meat production also fell in the same year.
A new report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows the reason for the increase was chiefly driven by people eating more pig and poultry products.
According to the CSO statistics poultry accounted on average for 52% of a person's annual meat consumption in Ireland during 2025, while pig meat was estimated to be around 32%.
The new figures published today (Thursday, October 15) also show that there was a drop per person in the consumption of beef and veal and a very small reduction in the average consumption of sheep meat.
But while the statistics may be positive on overall consumption there was a less upbeat analysis of beef production last year which showed a significant fall.
Beef production
Beef and veal slaughtering volumes dropped by 10%, or 58,000 tonnes - which marks a major decline in Ireland’s largest meat category.
According to Mairead Griffin, a statistician in the CSO agricultural accounts and production section, last year the supply of meat in the Irish market fell by 18,000 tonnes (-1%) to 1.44 million tonnes.
"Of the available supply, beef and veal accounted for 41%, followed by pig meat (28%), poultry (27%), and sheep meat (4%).
"The volume of total slaughterings fell by 46,000 tonnes (-4%). The volume of both beef and veal, and sheep slaughterings were down, with beef and veal tonnage 58,000 (-10%) lower than 2024, while sheep slaughterings were down by 10,000 tonnes (-15%)," Griffin added.
Exports
This in turn impacted on Ireland's meat exports last year, where net exports fell by 12% to 567,000 tonnes, reflecting lower slaughtering volumes and a reduced export surplus.
Griffin said: The net export - i.e. exports less imports - of total meat dropped by 74,000 tonnes (-12%) to 567,000 tonnes.
"As has been the trend for a number of years, poultry was the only category of meat where imports exceeded exports and for 2025, net imports of poultry rose by 15,000 tonnes to 85,000 tonnes".
The new CSO "Meat Supply Balance 2025" report shows that while Ireland may have consumed more meat per person last year the decline in production and export totals could pose a challenging picture for Irish farmers.
Slaughter numbers fell last year and Irish meat exports fell and for Irish farmers the issue is whether the decline will continue and what impact this could have on prices, production costs and demand.
According to the latest CSO report Ireland remains self-sufficient in meat overall but the decline in both its surplus could have implications for exports and domestic supply in the future.
