Rabbit, meat consumption down 35% in 10 years (and buyers are over 60)
According to Ismea, the negative trend continues, with expenditure amounting to 1% of the meat total, but we remain self-sufficient in production and family farms are widespread
2' min read
2' min read
In ten years, the consumption of rabbit meat in Italy has fallen by more than a third (-35%). And in the first eight months of this year, the trend is still downwards, with a loss of 8.7% in terms of purchases in shops and supermarkets in 2023. If we then consider that consumption is increasingly concentrated among the over-sixties (an age group that accounts for 75% of consumers) we can understand the crisis, which is difficult to reverse, that this sector is going through.
Yet Italy has a strong rabbit tradition and achievesself-sufficiency in terms of production (99%), ranking - according to the latest Ismea data - third among producer countries in Europe (17% of the total against 18% in France and 42% in Spain). Where, however, the general situation is no different, with slaughterings having fallen by 37% from 2018 to date.
More in detail, in Italy there are 4,100 rabbit farms (60% of which are family farms) with over 11 million heads in the production cycle. Eighty-five per cent of rabbits are reared in the North, particularly in the Veneto region where almost 5.4 million animals are fattened every year. In the first half of 2024, slaughterings decreased by 6.9% on an annual basis. These figures, however, 'do not take into account rural breeding for self-consumption and local trade, which, while important, are difficult to quantify (it is estimated that they account for around 30%),' Ismea notes.
Spending on domestic purchases of rabbit meat in 2023 amounted to EUR 126 million and accounted for just 1 per cent of total expenditure on meat, which in turn accounts for 10 per cent of total food purchases. Despite falling demand, price growth in recent years has been over 10%.
'The long-term analysis of the main variables of the rabbit sector does not suggest any reversal of the structural decline in demand,' Ismea concludes. 'Communication and promotion can be the main levers capable of restoring momentum to the consumption of this type of meat. In particular, both initiatives aimed at promoting the culinary education required to handle rabbit meat and information campaigns to increase consumer knowledge of its nutritional characteristics and sustainability orientation could be implemented'.
