January 24, 2017

Number of pigs in Ukraine drops below 7 million

The number of pigs in Ukraine as of Jan. 1 this year has declined by 5.5% to an estimated 6.69 million. The decrease is equivalent to 390,000 heads from 2015, according to data released by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and compiled by the analytical department of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders.

In particular, the number of backyard pigs has been reduced by 7.7%, compared with the year before. In comparison, the decrease in the commercial livestock was quite moderate at 4.6%.

Accordingly, commercial livestock won back 1% share of backyard farms at the start of the year, as its proportion of the total livestock now accounts for 53%.

Some 70% of the pig-producing regions experienced reduction in the capacity of the industrial pig farming. Positive dynamics were present only in the western regions of Volynska and Ivano-Frankivska, and Lvivska.