EU: Significantly more pigs slaughtered in the first half of the year

Pig prices for slaughter have fallen to the lowest level in many years in the European Union. The main reason for this is that a greater supply of pork meets weaker demand in the domestic market and, most recently, in China and Japan. According to data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), a total of 124.17 million pigs were hooked in the reportable slaughterhouses of the 27 Member States in the first half of 2021; that was 4.31 million animals or 3.6% more than from January to June 2020. Higher slaughter weights due to pork congestion In the previous year, however, the corona pandemic led to failures in the slaughterhouses and cutting plants, which must be taken into account in the comparison. But even compared to the first half of 2019, slaughter increased by 2.33 million animals or 1.9%. In most Member States, the pigs entered the slaughterhouses at higher weights, partly as a result of the pig jam at the beginning of the year. Pork production in the ...