The EU community pig herd decreased by 5.2% in 2022

The community pig herd fell by 5.2% in 2022, to 134.3 million heads, according to data published by the European Commission based on surveys carried out at the end of the year. Therefore, the downward trend that was already observed and that affects almost all the Member States of the European Union continues. In Spain there has been a drop in the census of pigs for the first time in many years; however, in the other large producers in the European Union the herd was already declining due to a confluence of factors, including the incidence of African swine fever or the increase in production costs aggravated by the war in Ukraine. Germany, the second producer of pork meat behind Spain, already registered a decrease of close to 10% in 2021 compared to 2020 and again in 2022 saw its workforce reduced by just over 10%. In Denmark the decrease was 12.2% and in France ...