Pig stock for first time since 1984 under XNUMX million

The Dutch pig herd shrank sharply in the second half of last year, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. For the first time since 1984, the number of pigs plunges below 11 million.

In April 2021, the Netherlands still had a total of 11,35 million pigs. Eight months later, this number had shrunk to 10,87 million units. A decline of about 450.000 animals, or a minus of just 4%. Shrinkage is mainly recorded in the sow herd. The number of fattening pigs remained virtually stable. 

Decrease in sows and piglets
The total number of sows decreased by 25.000 from 943.000 in April to 918.000 in December. The number of piglets also decreased accordingly: in the category up to 20 kilos, 207.000 fewer piglets were counted in December than in April. The number of young pigs up to 50 kilos decreased by 259.000 heads to a total of 4,56 million heads.

The number of finishing pigs developed fairly stable last year. The total number of fattening pigs of 50 kilos and over even increased slightly compared to April with 9.000 heads to a total of 3,63 million.

After a peak of around 15 million animals in the mid-90s, the pig herd has now shrunk by almost 27%.

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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