Inside Pigs
Spain imports fewer Dutch piglets
According to The Spanish Veterinary Health Alert Network (RASVE), the import volume of pigs has continued to increase in recent months. However, the quantity of imports from the Netherlands has decreased.
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Spanish imports of piglets have increased in recent months. In March, a total of 257.424 pigs, mainly piglets, were imported from other Member States. Many piglets have been imported, especially from the most important pig countries in the EU.
Import from the Netherlands
According to RVO statistics, Spain imported 91.242 piglets from the Netherlands in March. Last year this was still 103.454 piglets, so pig imports from the Netherlands have fallen by as much as 11,8%. This decrease could be due to the restrictive measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the first 16 weeks of the year, a total of 317.778 Dutch piglets went to Spain. Last year in the same period this was still 358.844 piglets. This means that Spain has imported 11,4% fewer piglets from the Netherlands than last year.
Spanish exports to China
Spain has been the largest exporter of pork to China since 2019. For the period of May 2019, there were 28 pig companies exporting to China. However, new permits have been issued since that date, doubling the number of companies that are allowed to export to China. In total, there are now 57 Spanish pig companies that export to the Chinese market.
The largest share of exports comes from the export of pork and offal. In 2019, this share accounted for no less than 55,3% of total Spanish agricultural exports to China. This is a significant increase compared to 2018, when the percentage was still 35,5%
The total value of Spanish pork products exported to China in 2019 was €1,13 billion. According to Spanish trade statistics Datacomes, this is even 119% more than the value in 2018.