September 28,  2020

4.5% drop in Portugal's pig slaughter this year

At 2,507,832, Portugal saw a 4.5% drop in the number of pigs slaughtered in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year (2,625,760).

Slaughter weight had also declined 1.2% compared to the same period in 2019. The latest slaughter numbers are broken down between 1,999,976 head of slaughter pigs (-1.8% from 2019 with 2,035,884 head slaughtered), 486,465 piglets (-14.4% from the same period of 2019 with 575,188 head) and 21,391 breeding pigs (+45.6% from 2019 with 14,688 head).

Concerning the export and import of live pigs for slaughter between January and June 2020 -- compared to the same period in 2019 -- the import of pigs for slaughter increased by 1.1% (515,876 head in 2020 versus 511,025 head in 2019).

Portuguese live pigs exported for slaughter more than doubled (+106.2%) from 134,521 head in 2019 to 277,345 head in 2020, a clear sign that the price of pigs in Portugal is much lower than the price paid in Spain since close to 300,000 of these pigs were sold directly to Spanish slaughterhouses.

- Boletim Suínos News / GPP (Portugal)