Inside Pigs
Eurozone sow herd shrinks by 340.000
The sow herd in the eurozone has shrunk considerably, making a decline in the number of piglets and finishers likely in the coming months. The total number of pigs has also decreased. What do these numbers say?
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The May/June count of almost all major pig countries in Europe has been published on Eurostat. This shows that the sow herd in countries such as Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland has continued to decline. The Polish sow herd even shrank by 13,3% to 755.000 animals. The outbreaks of African swine fever in the country are probably a cause of this.
Fewer piglets (and fattening pigs) in the offing
The shrinkage in the EU-12, which includes the major pig countries (except Spain, which has yet to announce the figures), amounts to 4,2% to 7,73 million animals: a decrease of 340.000 breeding sows. This makes the decrease greater than the rule of '-2%', which Wageningen Economic Research says ensures stabilization in European piglet production. This is in view of growing sow productivity.
The number of pregnant sows is also declining in many countries, as is the total pig herd. The May/June count suggests that the number of piglets and fattening pigs in the eurozone will remain sparse for the time being.
| Country | Number of sows x1.000 | Decrease compared to 2018 | Pregnant sows x1.000 | Decrease compared to 2018 | Total number of pigs x1.000 | Decrease compared to 2018 |
| Germany | 1.840 | -3,0% | 1.300 | -4,6% | 25.913 | -3,7% |
| France | 955 | -2,5% | 680 | -2,3% | 13.240 | -1,5% |
| Denmark | 1.227 | -3,3% | 768 | -3,0% | 12.551 | -2,5% |
| The Netherlands | 1.017 | -3,2% | 677 | -2,6% | 12.300 | -0,7% |
| Poland | 755 | -13,3% | 531 | -9,1% | 10.780 | -8,9% |
| EU-12 | 7.730 | -4,2% | 5.419 | -4.,1% | 101.827 | -2,6% |