October 25, 2024

UK pork production at nearly 80,000 tonnes in September

The latest Defra data shows that the United Kingdom produced 79,500 tonnes of pork in September.

Although this was a small decline (1,000 tonnes) on the previous month, year-on-year pork production in September was up 5.2% (3,900 tonnes).

Defra's carcase weights data showed no year-on-year change in September at 89.8kg, meaning the increase in production has come from an increase in clean pig slaughter which stood at 855,000 head.

For the year-to-date (January-September), pork production is up 3.4% in 2024 compared to 2023 at 711,000 tonnes. Carcase weights have been driving most of the production growth with average weights at 90.1kg, over 1kg heavier year-on-year. Although clean pig slaughter numbers have picked up in 2024 at 7.63 million head (+2.0% year-on-year), numbers remain significantly lower than the five-year average.

Growth has not been consistent across 2024. Q1 recorded declines in production of 1.6%, which has been more than counteracted by gains in Q2 and Q3 of 4.4% and 7.5% respectively. Both Q2 and Q3 2024 have had additional working days compared to 2023, likewise there were fewer working days in Q1 2024 compared to 2023 which does bare some weighting on the year-on-year comparisons, due to the use of calendar months in the data methodology.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board's (AHDB) pork outlook, which was updated at the end of September, forecasts UK pork production to end the year up 2.7% at around 951,000 tonnes, with clean pig kill up by a smaller but not insignificant 1.5% to 10.2 million head.

- AHDB