North Rhine-Westphalia pig stock also shrinks considerably

Also in one of Germany's most important pig provinces, North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of pigs has decreased considerably in the past six months. This is evident from the results of the animal count in November this year, which the statistical office of the province announced this week.

The total number of pigs counted was 5,5% smaller than in May of this year. Then 6,62 million pigs were counted, now 6,25 million. The number of pig farms also fell sharply in a short period of time. In six months, three hundred pig farmers gave up. In total, the province still has 6.130 farms with pigs.

Sow herd shrinks less quickly
The recorded decline is mainly due to a smaller number of piglets and the number of light finishers. The number of piglets shrank by 155.600 to 1.677.600, a decrease of 8,5%. The number of light fattening pigs (up to 50 kilos) shrank by 132.400 heads to 1.125.500 heads, a decrease of 10,5%. The shrinkage was lower in the heavier animal categories. The total number of fattening pigs decreased by 65.000 heads to 3.100.900 heads, a minus of 2,1%.

The number of sows in North Rhine-Westphalia decreased by almost 12.000 to a total of 344.200. That is a decrease of 3,4%. This makes it less significant than the contraction that was announced last week in Baden-Württemberg. There the number of sows increased by more than 10% off.

Steve Wissink

Stef Wissink is an editor at Boerenbusiness and writes about current market developments in the dairy and pig market. He also follows Dutch and international agribusiness.

s.wissink@boerenbusiness. Nl

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