Why Is Switzerland — of All Places — Importing So Much Cheese?

The Swiss are happy with their cheese, and many of the cheese they eat are native varieties like Gruyère, Emmental and different exhausting cheeses from milk from joyful cows which can be well-known everywhere in the world. The Swiss additionally eat numerous cheese: greater than 50 kilos per individual per yr, versus about 40 kilos per individual within the United States.

“Cheese is part of our identity,” stated Daniel Koller, a director at Swissmilk, Switzerland’s dairy affiliation. That’s why certainly one of Mr. Koller’s colleagues, the president of the affiliation, created a storm this month when he instructed a Swiss newspaper that Switzerland was on observe to import extra cheese than it exports this yr, which he referred to as “absurd economically, socially and ecologically.”

In reality, the Swiss cheese commerce steadiness has been shrinking for many years, and particularly for the reason that market was liberalized in 2007, which allowed the nation to commerce with the European Union with out tariffs or quotas in both route. Switzerland now exports about 40 % of the cheese it produces, per trade estimates.

But in every of the primary 5 months of this yr, Switzerland imported extra cheese by weight than it offered overseas, based on customs information. In half, that’s as a result of the Swiss have developed a style for international cheeses, with native varieties accounting for 64 % of consumption final yr, down from 77 % in 2007, based on Swissmilk.

The variety of dairy farmers in Switzerland has fallen in current many years, with a drop of greater than half over the previous 25 years, Mr. Koller stated. On high of that, farming operations in Switzerland are small: The common dimension of a herd is about 27 cows, Mr. Koller stated, and dairy farms with greater than 100 cows are uncommon.

Although an inflow of international cheese could problem notions of Swiss nationwide id, economists say there isn’t any have to panic. Swiss producers have develop into extra specialised lately, and the cheeses they export are typically the higher-value varieties, like Gruyère. Imports are cheaper — and softer — and largely come from France. (What’s referred to as “Swiss cheese” within the United States is an American copy of Swiss exhausting cheeses, recognized — in fact — for its signature holes.)

Not all of the cheese that’s imported into Switzerland is consumed there, both. A big chunk of the cheese and curd introduced into the nation will get refined in Switzerland after which exported.

“The trade difference in cheese itself is not a major thing to worry about,” stated Martin Mosler, an economist at IWP, an financial coverage institute on the University of Lucerne. “We are better than most of the world at the high quality stuff,” he stated. Switzerland continues to run a wholesome commerce surplus in cheese by monetary worth: On common, Swiss cheese exports fetch roughly 10 Swiss Francs per kilo (about $11.60), in contrast with about six Swiss Francs per kilo paid for imports.

Inflation has additionally performed a task within the Swiss cheese commerce. While 2021 was a file yr for Swiss exports, final yr noticed a drop as a result of Switzerland’s largest market, Germany, was hit exhausting by inflation, squeezing buyers’ budgets. The robust Swiss franc additionally made cheese dearer in Germany.

“These consumers are very price sensitive,” Mr. Mosler stated.

By distinction, the robust franc made imports cheaper, and elevated imports might be good for Swiss shoppers, Mr. Mosler stated. People need extra alternative for decrease costs and “that’s great for Switzerland itself,” he stated.

But Swiss farmers who produce cheaper cheeses could also be affected by the shifting commerce steadiness.

Milk costs in Switzerland have risen over the previous few years, together with for milk that’s utilized in cheese, based on Robert Finger, a professor at ETH Zurich, a college. It will not be “too bad” but, however he acknowledged that the variety of farms has continued to fall in Switzerland, like in the remainder of Europe. That isn’t strongly associated to larger imports, Mr. Finger stated, however has principally been pushed by different financial and social developments.

The United States has seen the same development, with a lack of about half its dairy farmers between 1997 and 2017, partly brought on by consolidation of the meals system, the disappearance of many small household farms and decrease milk costs all over the world, stated Hannah Tremblay, a coverage and advocacy supervisor at Farm Aid, an agriculture nonprofit.

Mr. Koller, the director at Swissmilk, stated it was vital to proceed producing Swiss cheese for Swiss shoppers. One of the objectives of his group is to encourage folks to purchase native merchandise that adhere to Switzerland’s prime quality and environmental requirements.

But, tastes apart, he added that the standard and requirements in European Union international locations typically don’t differ wildly from these in Switzerland. “It doesn’t make sense just to close borders for cheese,” Mr. Mosler stated.