April 4, 2023

EU swine inventory dropped 5% in 2022

The European Union's swine inventory in 2022 totaled 134 million pigs, down 5% from 2021, according to Eurostat data in November/December 2022.

All EU member states with more than three million pigs saw decreases in their swine inventories with two exceptions: Italy (+330 thousand head; +4% compared to 2021) and Sweden (+50,000 head; +3%).

Germany and Denmark reported decreases in their pig herds equivalent to over half of the overall reduction in the EU. Germany's decrease is equivalent to 33% of the overall EU reduction (-2.4 million head compared to 2021; -10%) and Denmark's decrease is equivalent to 22% of the overall EU reduction (-1.6 million head, -12%).

In France, the reduction was 758,000 head.

Spain, which had previously seen continuous increases since 2013, also suffered a decrease, albeit on a smaller scale (-379,000 head).

Bulgaria and Malta (-26%) saw the largest relative decreases.

- Pig333