The pig market is alive and well in the EU, especially in the eastern member states

In addition to the cut, exports also stabilized in the European Union compared to 2023. Eastern European member states, including our country, performed better in the first 8 months of the year. According to preliminary data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), between January and August 2024, around 146 million pigs were slaughtered in the reporting slaughterhouses of the 27 EU member states. Not only does this not indicate a decrease - as before - but a modest increase: about 1.1 million animals, 0.7% more than in the first 8 months of the previous year. Due to higher slaughter weights, pork production increased by 1.9% to 13.9 million tons. This indicates that the downward trend of the last two years has now stopped, where the declines were very significant, 8.1% (2023) and 3.1% (2022). Pig slaughter increased in 17 EU-27 countries and decreased in ten countries. Pig slaughter increased especially in the eastern EU member states: in Croatia 8.3%, in ...