February 27, 2023

UK pork production declines in January

Data from the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) showed that the UK produced 79,400 tonnes of pork in January, 500 tonnes lower compared to December 2022 and 7% lower (6,100 tonnes) year-on-year, the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board reported.

January 2023's pork output was the lowest amount of pork produced on a monthly basis since January 2021, and it was 4% (-3,400 tonnes) behind the month's five-year average.

Production dropped due to a decrease in slaughters. Clean swine kill for January was 863,700 head, which is 9,100 head behind numbers from this time last year and down 21,900 head from December 2022. This is the lowest monthly number of clean swine slaughtered since January 2021, continuing the pattern of declining production volumes.

Average carcase weights increased by 1.6 kg from December 2022 to 88.9 kg in January 2023, which is 0.7 kg more than the 5-year average. However, as the glut of swine from early 2022 have been cleared, annual carcase weights have decreased by 5.4 kg.

-      UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board