Switzerland’s emergency stocks

There were major national supply issues during the coronavirus pandemic, with a shortage of face masks, ethanol and disinfectant. The Swiss Alcohol Board had kept ethanol reserves up to 2017 prior to its dissolution in the interests of deregulation, which meant no more emergency ethanol stocks. No one suspected at the time how urgently ethanol would be needed just a short time later. The sector has since reestablished its reserve stock of the product.

The Ukraine war accentuated Europe’s energy crisis. However, electricity cannot be kept in reserve. The Federal Council approved the construction of a reserve power station last year to ensure the country would be prepared in the event of an acute electricity shortage (see Review 2/2023).

There are enough foodstuffs and commodities stockpiled to provide every person in the country with 2,300 calories per day for three to four months.

Switzerland depends on imports

The origins of national economic supply go back to the early 20th century. Many goods were in short supply before the First World War, and the situation only became worse after that. At the start of the 1930s, the federal government obliged private mills to hold a certain volume of grain in reserve. In the Second World War, the authorities launched a veritable cultivation campaign to make Switzerland less dependent on imported foodstuffs. Although this goal was not achieved, the “Wahlen Plan” – named after the agriculture minister and subsequently Federal Councillor Friedrich Traugott Wahlen – did strengthen the people’s resolve.

Following the world wars, the emergency stockpile was expanded in the interests of preserving security. Products including cacao, soap, coal, metals and screws were added to the mandatory reserves. During the Cold War, stocks were built up to last 12 months. However, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the advent of globalisation made stockpiling less of a priority, and reserves were scaled back during the 1990s. Nonetheless, Switzerland remains reliant on functioning supply chains and imports, as the country only produces about half of the food supply needed to meet domestic consumption.

Given the uncertain state of the current world, the Federal Council proposed last summer to top up the mandatory reserves again and store more grain and cooking oils. However, during the consultation process, these plans were met with scepticism: the sectors in question considered a one-year import outage excessive. At the same time, an expert survey showed that they believed the priority should be on doing more to secure complex supply chains. In December 2023, the federal government commissioned a more detailed review. The government does not just want to know whether more products should be included in the compulsory stockpiles but also whether additional instruments are needed to monitor international supply chains of critical goods and services. The conclusions of the review should be published by the end of 2024.

Switzerland as a role model

By international comparison, Switzerland is something of a role model in its approach to stockpiling foodstuffs. That finding emerges from a country analysis commissioned by the Confederation from research institute Polynomics. The study covered the neighbouring countries of Germany, France, Italy, Austria, as well as Finland and the non-EU state Norway. These countries apply different approaches, ranging from Finland with its extensive national stockpiles to France, where there are no emergency food reserves, which is understandable as the country has a large agricultural sector and does not rely on imports.

In any case, Switzerland’s penchant for hoarding coffee makes it a global anomaly: “If disaster strikes, the Swiss want to be caffeinated,” is how the British publication “The Economist” reported on the matter with a hint of irony.

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