Boneless product dominates UK pork imports

In April, the UK imported 25,300 tonnes of fresh/frozen pork. Of this total, 15,300 tons (60%) were boneless products, while 9,000 tons (36%) were bone-in products. In the accumulated for the year (Jan-April) the volumes are 102.2 thousand tons in natura/frozen, being 59.8 thousand tons (58%) without bone and 39 thousand tons (38%) with bone. This signals that we continue to use overseas slaughter capacity, a trend that started in early 2020 as a result of the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK and as we approach the end of the Brexit transition period. Both events have severely impacted our domestic butcher shop, with skilled staff falling ill or deciding to leave the UK. However, with UK pork production forecast to end the year down 15%, domestic processing capacity is currently facing an economic rather than a capacity challenge; the restructuring we have seen in the processing sector is sadly evidence of this. Exports have not seen the same change in product type as imports, as ...