Ground beef has been missing from the shelves of many shops of late, and producers say the situation is not going to improve any time soon.
Open image viewer
A sign on an empty shelf at the Prisma supermarket in Helsinki’s Tripla mall on Friday evening 2 May explaining that meat packing plants have reported a drop in supply. Image: Toni Määttä / Yle
Demand for ground beef increased across Finland in the first part of this year, which in turn has led to a temporary shortage of other ground meats.
“At the same time, there have been challenges in production, and the production chain has not been able to meet the increased demand,” says Sampo Päällysaho, director of the S-Group’s grocery trade.
Päällysaho added that supply problems have worsened in recent weeks, partly due to the Easter holidays and a strike by workers in the meat and prepared-food sector in April which affected some suppliers.
K-Group stores have also experienced intermittent shortages of ground beef since the beginning of the year.
“The consumption of ground beef has been on the increase for a long time. Ground beef is easy to use and is widely used in popular recipes. At the same time, a slight drop in production has led to availability problems,” says Carita Rissanen, sourcing and sales director at Kesko.
According to Rissanen, the situation has changed people’s buying behaviour to some extent.
“Consumers have reacted to the shortage by buying other ground meat-based products, such as chicken and pork. In addition, plant-based proteins such as tofu, tempeh, and various plant-based meat alternatives have increased in popularity,” she says.
There may also be future disruptions in the availability of ground beef in both S- and K-group stores.
Supply not meeting demand
According to the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK, it will be a long time before the situation can change.
The number of cattle in Finland has been gradually declining for decades. Cows are kept mainly for milk production, and more milk is produced from one cow than in the past because of stock improvement and improved feeding and barn conditions.
Today, each cow produces about 10,000 kg of milk per year. In the 1980s, it was half that amount.
“To produce beef, you need calves, which a cow produces only once a year. As the number of calves has decreased, the potential for meat production has gradually diminished,” explains Juho Kyntäjä, an MTK expert.
MTK’s figures reveal that beef consumption began to increase in the middle of last year.
“Now we have reached a situation where supply no longer meets demand,” Kyntäjä notes.
About one fifth of Finnish cows are suckler cows, kept specifically for the production of beef, rather than milk. They are not milked, but birth a calf once a year and suckle it for six months.
The number of suckler cows in Finland increased gradually until 2023, but then started to decline.
“This is due to the poor profitability of production at the price ratios that have prevailed in recent years,” Kyntäjä says.
Less beef across Europe
Kyntäjä further notes that beef prices remained stable in Finland until the beginning of this year, although elsewhere in Europe they have risen sharply for the second year running.
This has led to a situation in which the price paid to producers in Finland is quite a bit lower than the European average.
The decline in beef production is a Europe-wide phenomenon, Kyntäjä adds, but in Finland the situation is more pronounced.
If a producer were to decide to increase beef production right now, new calves would not be born until February 2026.
The calves would then be slaughtered when they reach 750 kilos at the age of 20 months old, in October 2027.
“With the situation virtually the same across Europe, it seems unlikely that supply will increase very quickly,” he says.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.