News Pigs
Germany lost 200.000 breeding sows in one year
The German pig herd has again shrunk sharply in recent months. This means that the downward trend that has been going on for a number of years continues unabated. This is evident from figures from the German statistics service Destatis, which are based on the count of 3 November.
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Between May and November, another 1.000 pig farmers closed their doors in Germany. The number of pig farmers has now fallen to 16.900. Two years ago there were more than 20.000 companies. The decline in companies logically also has consequences for the number of pigs.
In the past six months, the number of pigs shrank by 4,5%. In exact numbers, this amounts to a reduction of one million animals to 21,3 million. When we compare with the November count last year, a reduction of 1,5 million pigs is visible. The number of sows shrank by 200.000 to 1,4 million in one year. This amounts to a shrinkage of 12,5%. This means that the sow herd is shrinking faster than the total number of pigs, which fell by 10% in one year. On paper, this means that German demand for imported piglets is increasing somewhat.
| Count (in millions) | November '22 | November '21 |
| Pigs | 21,3 | 23,8 |
| fattening pigs | 9,7 | 11 |
| breeding sows | 1,4 | 1,6 |
| piglets | 6,4 | 7 |
| Young pigs (under 50 kilos) | 3,9 | 4,2 |