News Pigs
Vion surpasses Westfleish in slaughter number
German pig slaughterhouses hooked significantly fewer animals last year than in 2019. There was a shift in the ranking of the top 3 largest slaughterhouses. Although they also slaughtered fewer pigs, they managed to increase their market share.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
The year 2020 presented major challenges for the German pig sector. From the start of the corona crisis, there have been continuous outbreaks of the virus among slaughterhouse staff. As a result, capacity had to be regularly scaled back or locations closed. In the autumn, it was the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) and the associated export restrictions that led to sales headaches at slaughterhouses. All in all, as a result, fewer pigs were processed in German slaughterhouses.
In total, 53,28 million pigs were slaughtered in Germany, which was 1,91 million fewer than in 2019. This is according to data published annually by the German interest organization for pig farmers (ISN).
Top-3 increases market share
The largest German pork processor, Tönnies, processed 16,30 million animals last year, 2,4% less than the year before. The number of slaughters fell less rapidly than the average, so that the market share rose by 0,3% despite the decrease.
In 2020, Vion is in second place in the annual 'slaughterhouse ranking'. This means that the meat group has surpassed competitor Westfleisch in terms of number of slaughters. Vion slaughtered approximately as many pigs as in 2 (2019 million), increasing its market share from 7,6% to 13,8%. According to ISN, Vion was able to cope well with some temporary closures of its slaughterhouses. The offer could be processed at other Vion locations in Germany.
Number 3 on the list is now Westfleisch. The company slaughtered about 2020 million pigs in 7,47. That was 3% less than in 2019. This means that the market share remained the same at 14%. At number 4 Danish Crown, the market share fell to 5,8% because the company processed no less than 6,6% fewer pigs (3,1 million in 2020). In the Müller group, number 5 on the list, the number of slaughtered animals remained stable at 2,1 million.
The other companies in the top 10 of the ranking show an almost stable picture. These companies processed about as much or even slightly more pigs than in 2019.
| Slaughterhouse | Processed animals |
| Tonies | 16.300.000 |
| VION | 7.600.000 |
| West meat | 7.470.000 |
| Danish Crown | 3.100.000 |
| Müller | 2.100.000 |