February 22, 2021

Portugal's 2020 pig slaughtering falls 2.6%

Pig slaughterings in Portugal's pig slaughtering in 2020 had dropped 2.6% (-9161 heads) compared to 2019, declining from 4.18 million pigs slaughtered that year to 4.08 million, according to data published by GPP and provided by INE as preliminary data.

The drop reflects a continuing trend as there were 30,000 fewer head slaughtered in 2019 than in 2018.

Slaughter in terms of weight is also down 2.6% going from 351,655 tonnes in 2019 to 342,494 tonnes in 2020. This means that the average slaughter weight in 2020 was similar to that of 2019.

For piglets, there was a significant reduction in their slaughtering (-12.5%) in 2020 when compared with 2019 as the number of heads slaughtered was 1.17 million heads compared with 1.34 million heads in the previous year. This reduction in slaughtering is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, as compulsory confinements, restaurant closures and bans on specific social events had a strong influence on the drop in demand.

Weight slaughtered was down 10.2% going from 9,224 tonnes in 2019 to 8,288 tonnes in 2020, meaning piglets were slaughtered at a higher average weight than in 2019.

A total of 5.3 million head were slaughtered and approved for consumption in 2020, -4.6% than in 2019 where 5.56 million head were slaughtered. The total slaughter weight was 357,814 tonnes, which is -2.2% than in 2019 when 365,961 tonnes were approved for consumption.

- SIMA / GPP (Portugal)