Boneless product continues to dominate UK pig meat imports

In April, the UK imported 25,300 tonnes of fresh/frozen pig meat, of this 15,300 tonnes (60%) was boneless product, while 9,000 tonnes (36%) was made up of bone-in product. For the year to date (Jan-Apr) the volumes stand at 102,200 tonnes of total fresh/frozen, made up of 59,800 tonnes (58%) boneless and 39,000 tonnes (38%) bone-in. This signals that we are continuing to make use of butchery capacity abroad, a trend which begun in early 2020 as a result of the first covid-19 lockdown in the UK and as we approached the end of the Brexit transition period. Both of these events severely impacted our domestic butchery with skilled staff either off sick or deciding to leave the UK. However with UK pig meat production forecast to end the year down 15%, domestic processing capacity is currently facing an economical challenge rather than one of capacity, the restructuring we’re witnessing within the processing sector regrettably evidences this. Exports have not seen the same change in ...