BBQ Meat Price Index: U.S. 18th most expensive country for BBQ favorites

With summer in mind, online catering marketplace Caterwings has conducted a study revealing the cost of favorite BBQ meat items in over 50 countries worldwide. The study reveals that Switzerland has the highest meat prices, at 141.9% more expensive than the average cost worldwide, followed by Norway (63.7% more expensive) and Hong Kong (61% more expensive), while Ukraine has the least expensive meat prices, at 52.3% less expensive than the average cost, closely followed by Malaysia (50.3% less expensive).

To give perspective to the data, the affordability of meat in each country was calculated to reveal the relative number of hours a person on minimum wage must work to buy each type of meat. The findings confirmed that not only does the price of BBQ favorites vary massively from country to country, but there is also an enormous disparity in the quantity of meats consumed around the world.

To create the Index, Caterwings looked at the top meat producing and consuming countries around the world focusing on beef, chicken, seafood, pork and lamb. After reviewing hundreds of food retailers, the data was compiled by analysing meat prices in these countries’ top cities, which needed to account for at least 25% of the total population. The Index is then ranked by the deviation percentage—this shows how comparatively affordable or expensive each meat type is in each country, in comparison to the global average cost.

Results
The tables below show the top countries with the most and least expensive meat prices, based on the average cost of 1kg of meat. Full results can be found here: https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/meat-price-index-usd/

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive beef prices are:

Most Expensive Beef					Least Expensive Beef
#	Country	Leg Round	Tenderloin	Mince	#	Country	Leg Round	Tenderloin	Mince
1	Switzerland	(USD)$49.68	$63.13	$20.81	1	India	$4.73	$13.69	$2.33
2	Hong Kong	$20.83	$71.70	$9.11	2	Colombia	$5.28	$13.33	$2.62
3	Norway	$28.55	$58.91	$13.55	3	Ukraine	$3.70	$14.14	$3.88
4	South Korea	$21.65	$57.72	$17.77	4	Malaysia	$5.76	$15.54	$2.55
5	Japan	$17.18	$56.18	$11.93	5	Egypt	$7.01	$13.46	$3.93

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive chicken prices are:

Most Expensive Chicken				Least Expensive Chicken
#	Country	Breast	Leg	#	Country	Breast	Leg
1	Switzerland	$27.14	$11.32	1	Ukraine	$2.65	$1.90
2	Norway	$13.69	$9.53	2	Thailand	$2.81	$2.71
3	Sweden	$14.28	$7.15	3	Malaysia	$2.85	$2.83
4	Finland	$11.33	$7.54	4	Egypt	$3.69	$2.57
5	New Zealand	$10.12	$8.21	5	India	$3.26	$3.13

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive fish prices are:

Most Expensive Seafood					Least Expensive Seafood
#	Country	White	Salmon	Shrimp	#	Country	White	Salmon	Shrimp
1	Switzerland	$19.48	$33.30	$35.84	1	India	$6.59	$11.74	$10.96
2	Hong Kong	$18.24	$44.32	$24.23	2	Vietnam	$3.92	$17.23	$10.73
3	Netherlands	$20.00	$31.93	$34.55	3	Malaysia	$9.17	$16.68	$7.75
4	Belgium	$19.45	$30.51	$32.59	4	Portugal	$5.78	$14.35	$15.15
5	Denmark	$16.54	$31.02	$33.38	5	Croatia	$6.62	$16.50	$14.00

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive pork prices are:

Most Expensive Pork					Least Expensive Pork
#	Country	Chop	Sausage	Ham	#	Country	Chop	Sausage	Ham
1	Switzerland	$20.39	$20.95	$41.92	1	Brazil	$4.39	$5.66	$5.03
2	Hong Kong	$18.98	$10.28	$43.99	2	Ukraine	$4.15	$5.05	$8.54
3	Singapore	$16.27	$13.10	$29.08	3	Hungary	$3.37	$3.00	$12.58
4	Japan	$14.65	$11.96	$29.01	4	Poland	$3.29	$5.88	$10.64
5	New Zealand	$9.00	$10.71	$35.05	5	Bulgaria	$4.64	$5.09	$12.15

The top 5 countries with the most and the least expensive lamb prices are:

Most Expensive Lamb			Least Expensive Lamb
#	Country	Chop	#	Country	Chop
1	Switzerland	$48.91	1	Colombia	$6.89
2	Israel	$35.41	2	Mexico	$8.35
3	Norway	$32.91	3	Brazil	$8.37
4	Hong Kong	$32.35	4	Ukraine	$8.78
5	Japan	$31.39	5	Malaysia	$8.97

These tables are extracts from the full findings which can be found on Caterwings’ results page: https://www.caterwings.co.uk/caterers/meat-price-index-usd/

Source: Caterwings