German pig slaughter at lowest level since 2007

Significantly fewer pigs were slaughtered in Germany last year. The number of pigs slaughtered was even at its lowest level since 2007. The decrease is mainly due to the corona crisis.

Preliminary figures from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) show that the number of pig slaughters in the country has fallen sharply. In total, 53,21 million pigs were on the slaughter hook last year, a decrease of 3,5% compared to the previous year. This brings the slaughter figures to the lowest level since 2007.

Of the 53,21 million pigs, almost 51 million came from domestic, 1,7% less than in 2019. The biggest decrease was in pigs from abroad that were slaughtered in Germany, that number fell by no less than 31,3. .2,28% to XNUMX million units.

Most pigs on the hook in Lower Saxony
Most pigs were slaughtered in Lower Saxony, a total of approximately 17,7 million heads. The level there is also below that of 2019, but the decrease at 1,1% is smaller than in other areas. With this, Lower Saxony takes the lead in the country. Last year, most pigs were on the slaughter hook in North Rhine-Westphalia, but the number of slaughters there fell by 7,4% to 16,98 million.

pork production
The decrease in the number of pigs slaughtered is largely due to the corona crisis. Slaughter capacity stagnated because slaughterhouses were struggling with corona infections among staff members. Because the slaughter capacity decreased, the sale of finishers was also slowed down, resulting in higher slaughter weights. The average slaughter weight increased by more than 2020 kilo in 1 to 95,87 kilos.

The higher slaughter weights could somewhat limit the decrease in meat production. In total, pork production fell by 2,4% to 5,1 million tons, reaching the lowest level since 2008.

Chanti Oussoren

Editor at Boerenbusiness who studies the dairy, pig (meat) and feed markets.

c.oussoren@boerenbusiness. Nl

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