March 29, 2021

EU-27's pig inventory expanded by 2% in 2020

During 2020, the EU-27's pig inventory increased by 2% compared to 2019, surpassing 146 million head.

By category, finishing animals increased 0.8% and piglets increased 5.6%, while the number of sows decreased by 0.5%.

The largest increases in pig inventory were in Bulgaria (+20.4%) and Hungary (+8.2%). In the case of Bulgaria, the emergence of ASF at the end of 2018 and its spread in domestic pigs in 2019 led to a significant decrease in the pig population in 2019. In contrast, the largest declines occurred in Slovakia (-8.7%) and Sweden (-6.6%).

With a 4.6% increase in its total pig inventory, Spain is once again the leading pig producer in the EU-27, accounting for 22.37% of the European inventory, followed by Germany, with 17.8% of the total and a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year.

France stands as the third-largest producer with a herd of 13.87 million head, Denmark with 13.4 million head and Poland with 11.72 million head. Spain, Germany, France, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium account for almost 85% of the total EU-27 pig population.

- Pig333 / Eurostat.