November 27, 2023

Portugal's pig slaughter number dropped 4.5% in first nine months of this year

The total number of pigs slaughtered in Portugal fell by 4.5%, or 133,474 head, in the first nine months of 2023, according to data published by the GPP and provided by INE as preliminary data.

The total number of pigs slaughtered went from 2,988,417 head from January-September 2022 to 2,854,943 head in 2023. This decrease is in addition to the 1.5% drop in slaughter that occurred in the same time period in 2022 compared to 2021.

Slaughter weight also fell, but by 3.9%, which means that lighter pigs were slaughtered this year compared to 2022, with the total weight going from 248,021 tonnes in 2022 to 238,356.2 tonnes in 2023. This gives an average carcass weight of 83.5kg this year compared to 84.1kg in 2022.

Concerning piglet slaughter, there was a 7.4% drop (-76,429 head) in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, as the number of head slaughtered was 957,838 compared to 1,034,267 head the previous year.

Slaughter weight also fell by 6.2% from 7,228 tonnes in 2022 to 6,781 tonnes in 2023, which means that the average weight remained the same, at approximately 7kg per carcass.

As for cull breeding stock, 2,640 head were slaughtered (-14.8%) in 2023 compared to 30,563 head in 2022. Total weight fell by 18.8% from 4,668 tonnes in 2022 to 3,793 tonnes in 2023. Average slaughter weight was 145.7kg per carcass.

In total, 3,838,821 head were slaughtered and approved for consumption in these first nine months of 2023, down 5.3% from 2022 when 4,053,247 head were slaughtered.

Total slaughter weight was 248,930 tonnes, down 4.2% from 2022 when 259,917 tonnes were approved for consumption.

- GPP Swine News Bulletin No. 46