French pig sector shows signs of recovery

After 20 years of steady decline, the French pig sector seems to be on the path to a recovery, albeit a small one. In the month of September, 1.863 million pigs were slaughtered in the country, just 0.3% less than last year. “The slaughter figures for pigs are more or less stable compared to a year ago,’’ statistical office Agreste says.

Over the first 3 quarters of this year, the slaughter figures came in at just over 16.4 million animals, a mere 0.2% less than in the same period in 2023. The monthly figures this year still show a high variability though. Only in 5 of the past 9 months, the French slaughtered more pigs year-on-year.

However, those recent figures are less gloomy than those of the last few years. In 2023, the number of slaughtered pigs was 22 million, a decline of 5% compared to the previous year, Agreste calculated in an analysis. ‘’That was in line with the decline of the number of pigs, like in other European countries,’’ the organisation says. The decrease last year was far higher than in 2022 when the French pig production declined by 2.2%. In every month of 2023, the slaughter figures were lower than the average than in the years 2018-2022.

Over the period 2003-2023, French pig production declined by an average of 0.8% per year, Agreste says in its report. ‘’The new significant decline in 2023 fits in with the tendency of a regular decline of the French pig numbers over a period of more than 20 years.’’ In 2003, the French pig herd stood at some 1.325 million animals while that figure decreased to around 852,000 twenty years later, a fall of 470,000 heads or just over 35%.

A positive development is the increase in the average carcass weight by 6 kilos, from 87.9 kilos 20 years ago to an average of 93.9 kilos last year. That is due to a longer fattening period in combination with the development of new livestock techniques, Agreste says. In France, the heavier pigs compensate for half of the decline in the number of animals over the last 20 years.

The development in the pig herd and other slaughter data have led to such a decline in the self-sufficiency for pork meat that France now can hardly supply enough to cover all of the national consumption anymore. Between 2020 and 2022, the self sufficiency went down from 107.3% to just 100%. In the first half of 2024, that figure remained more or less the same.

Another consequence is that France can export less and less pork meat or pork products to other countries. In August this year, that export amounted to 44.500 tonnes, 10.5% less than a year earlier and already 12.7% under the average for the previous five years. Meanwhile, the French also imported 46.900 tonnes which was 5.6% less than in August 2023 but only 3.1% under the five year average. The trade balance for pork and pork products in that month showed a deficit of 2.400 tonnes, something the French with their emphasis on local products do not really like.

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Tags: export, pork, France, Pigs, recovery, pig sector, slaughtered