UK pork imports are on the rise in August

Compared with August 2022, volumes have grown by 4,700 t. After being in decline for the first four months of 2023, imports have witnessed year-on-year growth since from May. UK pork production continues to be impacted by the market conditions of the past two years as domestic supplies remain tight. The English pig population is currently at its lowest in over a decade. The overall volumes of pig meat purchased through retail and food service has fallen by 1.3% year-on-year for the 52 weeks ending 3 September 2023 (AHDB estimates based on Kantar data). Retail volumes remain supressed, back 2.5% in volume terms. However, demand trends have diverged between foodservice and retail with volumes in foodservice growing by 7.2%. The foodservice sector generally has a greater weighting of non-British product, which may be a key factor driving imports. Imports of fresh and frozen product, and bacon, increased, however sausages and processed pig meat imports declined month-on-month and ...