Fewer pigs slaughtered in European Union

The poor economic situation in pig farming now also appears to be having an impact on production figures, which have shown a clear contraction in the first months of the year compared to the same period last year. It should be noted that the number of slaughters in the first months of 2021 may have been slightly higher due to the catching up of slaughter backlogs that arose due to corona problems in the autumn of 2020.

Growth since 2017
The number of pig slaughters in the European Union has increased in recent years. In 2017, 245,5 million pigs were slaughtered. By 2021, this had risen to almost 250 million units. This means that European pig production grew by approximately 2%.

However, there is now a decline in production in the months of January and February. The volume of pork produced in these months was 3% smaller than in January and February 2021. The volume amounted to 40,5 million tons. In February the contraction was even 4%. Production fell mainly in Germany (-11%), Italy (-7%), Poland (-7%) and Belgium (-7%). However, Spain increased production again by 6%.

Meanwhile, the number of pigs counted in the European Union is shrinking considerably. It is therefore expected that the number of pig slaughters will decrease further during the year, especially because the number of sows has decreased.