Last year, over 257 million pigs were slaughtered in the European Union (EU). This was 2 million more than in 2015 and 5.2 million more than 10 years ago.
In 2016, the production of pork in the EU amounted to 23.4 million tonnes. This translated to 45.9 kg per each EU inhabitant and was one and a half kilogramme per person more than in 2006.
However, in recent months a downward trend in pork production has been recorded. During the first half of 2017, 2.7 million fewer pigs were slaughtered in the EU than during the first half of 2016 (-2.1%). Half of this decrease was driven by reductions registered in Germany (-700 000), France (-426 000) and the United Kingdom (-296 000).
Germany and Spain, leading producers of pork in the EU
With respectively 59.4 million and 47.7 million pigs slaughtered in 2016, Germany (or 23% of the EU total) and Spain (19%) were by far the two largest pork meat producers in the EU. They were followed by France (23.8 million, 9%), Poland (21.8 million, 8%), Denmark (18.2 million, 7%), the Netherlands (15.4 million, 6%), Italy (11.8 million, 5%), Belgium (11.2 million, 4%) and the United Kingdom (11.0 million, 4%).
For more information:
Eurostat website section on agricultural statistics
Eurostat database on agriculture