Markets

EU Pig Meat Production – 2010

According to Eurostat, pig meat production in the EU-27 was just over 22.0 million tonnes last year – 3.5 per cent more than 2009. Most countries – and all of the top 12 pig meat-producing countries – registered increases in 2010 over the previous year, writes Jackie Linden, senior editor of ThePigSite.

29 July 2011

4 minute read

In its figures for 2010, Eurostat reports that output of pig meat by the EU-27 totalled just over 22.0 million tonnes in 2010, which is almost 751,000 tonnes or 3.5 per cent more than in the previous year. The table below shows the figures for 2009 and 2010, as well as the volumes and percentage changes between the two years for each country and the EU-27.

Still top of the pig meat-producing countries in the EU is Germany, with an output over 5.44 million tonnes in 2010, an increase of more than 189,000 tonnes or 3.6 per cent.

Second in the rankings but well behind Germany came Spain, producing just over 3.4 million tonnes of pig meat last year. This was 3.4 per cent or more than 110,000 tonnes more than in 2009.

France held on to its third place in the EU rankings as output was up by 0.3 per cent or 6,100 tonnes to just over 2.01 million tonnes.

With an increase of 133,000 tonnes in pig meat production (+8.3 per cent), Poland remained fourth in the league table with a total output of 1.74 million tonnes.

Denmark held on to its fifth position in the pig meat output ranking with an 83,000-tonne increase in production (+5.2 per cent) to almost 1.67 million tonnes.

Italian pig meat production was not far behind at just over 1.63 million tonnes in 2010 (+2.8 per cent).

Most of the other countries in the EU registered increases in the volume of pig meat produced in 2010 compared to the year before, with the biggest gains in percentage terms achieved in Lithuania (+32.3 per cent), Ireland (+9.5 per cent), UK (+7.5 per cent), Hungary (+7.1 per cent) and Romania (+5.5 per cent).

It is interesting to note that the majority of countries recording increases in pig meat production also registered a decline in their pig populations between 2009 and 2010.

Only eight EU countries produced less pig meat in 2010 than in the year before and none of the reductions exceeded six per cent. This is in stark contrast to 2009, when there were double-digit falls in output in seven EU Member States.

Pig meat production in the EU - 2009 and 2010 (tonnes; as of 22 July 2011)
	2009	2010	Difference	% change
EU-27	21,291,898	22,042,710	+750,812	+3.5
Germany	5,253,795	5,443,1669	189,371	+3.6
Spain	3,290,571	3,400,853	+110,282	+3.4
France	2,004,185	2,010,326	+6,141	+0.3
Poland	1,608,238	1,741,425	+133,187	+8.3
Denmark	1,583,200	1,666,300	+83,100	+5.2
Italy	1,588,444	1,632,715	+44,271	+2.8
Netherlands	1,274,980	1,288,274	+13,294	+1.0
Belgium	1,082,036	1,123,769	+41,733	+3.9
UK	720,253	774,466	+54,213	+7.5
Austria	533,436	542,131	+8,695	+1.6
Hungary	388,717	416,146	+27,429	+7.1
Portugal	373,420	384,201	+10,781	+2.9
Czech Republic	284,572	275,905	-8,667	-3.0
Sweden	260,748	263,478	+2,730	+1.0
Romania	222,070	234,195	+12,125	+5.5
Ireland	195,575	214,129	+18,554	+9.5
Finland	205,655	203,068	-2,587	-1.3
Greece	117,583	113,717	-3,866	-3.3
Slovakia	70,145	68,599	-1,546	-2.2
Cyprus	58,102	57,059	-1,043	-1.8
Lithuania	41,428	54,814	+13,386	+32.2
Bulgaria	38,287	37,346	-941	-2.5
Estonia	30,808	31,930	+1,122	+3.6
Slovenia	24,115	24,902	+787	+3.3
Latvia	24,757	23,327	-1,430	-5.8
Luxembourg	9,409	9,509	+100	+1.1
Malta	7,369	6,960	-409	-5.6
Data from Eurostat