Pig producers in the European Union (EU) continue to face multiple challenges which in turn saw production fall by 8% in the first quarter of 2023.

According to a report from AHDB, high input costs are continuing to impact production, while the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to persist over the region, limiting export opportunities.

Production in EU-27 from January-March is estimated at 5.4m tonnes of pig meat – down just under 500,000 tonnes (-8%) from the same period in 2022 and EU short-term outlooks forecast production to decline 5% across the whole year.

Although Spain remains the largest producer of pig meat in Europe, the country has seen the largest volume decline year on year, with Q1 2023 levels sitting just below 1.33m tonnes. This is a fall of 97.6k tonnes (-7%) from Q1 2022.

Large falls in production have also been recorded in Germany and Denmark where year to date figures are down 94.8k tonnes (-8%) and 91.6k tonnes (-20%) respectively from 2022 levels.

Other key producing countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Belgium have seen production fall between 27-47k tonnes (5-10%) compared to last year.

Poland recorded the smallest year on year decline of the key producers, with production down 12.1k tonnes (-3%) in the first three months of the year.

Reduced slaughterings have driven the fall in production volumes. Total slaughter is estimated to have reached just under 57.1m head for Q1 2023 – down more than 4.7m head from the same period in 2022.

As with production, Spain saw the largest year on year reduction, with slaughter numbers down 1.4m head (-9%), which bought Q1 slaughter to 14.1m head.

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Germany has also seen a significantly large drop, down nearly 1.0m head (-8%) from 2022, to 11.1m head. Denmark’s slaughtering’s fell 810k head to nearly 4.2m head for Q1 2023.

Again, Poland saw the smallest decline year on year, down 150k head.

Meanwhile other key producing countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and France have seen slaughter numbers reduced by 300-430k head.

The AHDB report points out that as production has fallen, and supplies have become tighter, EU reference prices have improved since the end of January.

Following a four-week period of decline, EU deadweight prices have re-gained momentum, hitting an average of 208.39p/kg for the week ending 28 May. This is an increase of 28.54p from the beginning of the year. The average EU reference price reached a peak of 212.14p for the week ending 30 April.

Reference prices in key-producing countries have, for the most part, all seen similar climbs from the beginning of the year.

Spain has seen a gain of nearly 40p/kg, as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland have witnessed gains of around 30p/kg.

Price rises in Denmark have been dampened compared to other countries, gaining 19p/kg with upwards movements starting a month behind most other nations.

In the last month, movements in reference prices have been more subdued, which according to AHDB could be due to volatility in the export market, especially regarding China.

For the three weeks ending May 21, prices eased between 2-5p/kg in Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland. In the final week of May, ending 28, prices have regained some ground in Germany, Spain, and Poland by roughly 2p.