Analysis Meat & Protein
Pork Production in Europe is Increasing Again
After the significant decline in European pork production, there are signals that the trend is reversing. In all major production countries of the European Union, slaughter numbers increased. In addition, carcass weights also rose, resulting in even stronger meat production.
According to the most recent data from Eurostat, the European slaughter number increased by 2% between January and April. In the first four months of 2024, the slaughter number increased to 74.85 million pigs. Furthermore, the slaughter weight was higher, leading to a total pork production increase of nearly 4% to 6.95 million tons.
Increase in all major production countries
In relative terms, the largest increases were found in Eastern Europe. The slaughter number in Croatia increased by 12.8%. Meanwhile, the number of slaughters in Bulgaria increased by 12.7%, the slaughter number in Poland increased by 10.8%, and the number of Hungarian slaughters increased by 10.3%.
A clear increase was also observed in the traditional core markets. In the Netherlands, Denmark, and Spain, the slaughter number increased by 2.8%. In Germany, the number of slaughters increased by 2.9%. In France, 3.2% more pigs were slaughtered, and in Italy, the volume increased by 3.2%. Among the Western European countries, Belgium performed the best. The slaughter number in that country increased by 5.3%.
Slaughter Weights
Something remarkable is happening in Denmark. In that country, the slaughter number did not increase but decreased. However, the higher meat production in this period can be attributed to higher slaughter weights. In Denmark, the slaughter number decreased by 200,000 pigs, but the slaughter weight was 6 kilograms higher.
In the Netherlands, the impact of higher slaughter weights is greater than the impact of the higher slaughter number. In the first four months of 2024, 5,060,000 pigs were slaughtered, although the difference is not as significant as in Denmark. The previous year, 5,005,000 pigs were slaughtered during that period. An increase of 1.1%.
