Food Consumption
Commentary |
Contents |
Bakery products and cereal consumption has virtually not changed at all since 2005. With certain commodities there were relatively big vicissitudes, however. There was a dramatic decrease in rye consumption in terms of grain weight (by 4.2 kg - 38 percent) and rye flour consumption (4.9 kg - 38 percent). Primarily, this fall was due to a considerable decrease in production. One of the main reasons for dwindling rye production was return to cereals that are more stable in yields (mainly wheat). Conversely, a substantial increase in consumption was recorded in the case of rice, namely 1.2 kg (29,9 percent).
Overall consumption of oils and fats in 2006 has not changed much since the previous year, there was only a small decrease (by 0.2 kg, ie 0.8 percent). What changed, though, was the structure of this consumption. There was a considerable fall in butter consumption, namely by 0.4 kg, which means by 7.8 percent. This decrease was brought about by both lower production and increase in exports. There was a rise in imports too, but not to such a great extent. Conversely, there was an increase by 0.4 kg in consumption of edible vegetable fats and oils. All commodities falling into this category underwent a mild increase. The causes of this increase were both higher oil plant yields and a substantial rise in imports.
Consumption of fruit in terms of fresh weight has risen by 7.6 kg (ie 9.5 percent) since 2005. The main contributors to this rise were higher consumption of apples (by 2.2 kg - 8.9 percent), plums (by 2.8 kg - 91.4 percent), cherries (by 0.6 kg - 66.3 percent), apricots (by 1.6 kg - 95 percent), peaches (by 0.9 kg - 19.5 percent) and strawberries (by 1.2 kg - 62.8 percent). Primarily, the increase in consumption of all these commodities was caused by much higher yields than in 2005 and higher imports.
Consumption of vegetables in terms of fresh weight has also increased since 2005, namely by 3.6 kg (4,6 percent). The main factors in the rise of vegetable consumption were cucumbers (increase by 1.6 kg, ie 18.6 percent), tomatoes (by 1.7 kg, ie 16.7 percent), cabbage (by 0.5 kg, ie 6.4 percent), kohlrabi (by 0.5 kg, ie 23.9 percent) and onions (0.7 kg, ie 7.3 percent). This increase was on account of extending cultivated area for vegetable growing and higher imports. On the other hand a big fall, whose cause was a drop in imports, was recorded with watermelons (by 1.5 kg, ie 17.1 percent).
