Christmas trees from Switzerland are becoming increasingly popular
Published: Wednesday, Nov 29th 2023, 11:30
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Mr. and Mrs. Swiss are increasingly turning to Christmas trees from Switzerland. Although around half of the 1.7 million Christmas trees sold each year still come from abroad, imports are on the decline.
"We are seeing a very high targeted demand for trees from the region or from Switzerland," said a Migros spokesperson when asked by the news agency AWP. As a result, around 90 percent of the trees would come from Switzerland this year. The remaining 10 percent came from Denmark.
At Coop, all trees in the range already come from Switzerland. At Coop's DIY subsidiary Jumbo, the proportion of domestic trees is around 80 percent, with the rest being imported from Denmark, a spokesperson said. In the next few years, however, Jumbo also wants to switch entirely to Swiss Christmas trees.
According to Landi, it sells two thirds more Swiss Christmas trees than imported ones. However, Landi is steadily increasing its share and is likely to sell more Swiss trees again this year, it said on request. In contrast, the discounter Aldi relies entirely on imports from the EU.
Potential for further expansion exists
"Overall, there is still a lot of potential for Swiss Christmas trees," said Benno Schmid, Head of Communication and Policy at Swiss Forests. There are still enough areas available for planting, which are mostly leftover areas under power lines or along highways.
However, it is not possible to ramp up domestic production overnight. It usually takes around ten years from planting the seedling to harvesting. The trees planted this year are therefore more likely to be the Christmas trees for 2035, Schmid continues.
The volume of imported Christmas trees has remained relatively stable in recent years despite more trees being sold. Just under 60 percent of imported trees came from Denmark last year. This was followed by Germany with around 20 percent and Belgium with 10 percent as the largest suppliers, according to figures from the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security.
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