Archive:Meat production statistics

Data from November 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: (dd) Month YYYY(, hh:00).

This publication intends to give an overview of European meat production , according to the data provided to Eurostat by the Member States EU-28 in compliance with Regulation (EU) No1165/2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics (see methodological notes).

Table 1: Slaughtering by meat products, 2012
Source: Eurostat (apro_mt_pann) and (apro_mt_sloth)

Figure 1: Development of livestock population in the EU, (Index 2005=100)
Source: Eurostat (apro_mt_lscatl), (apro_mt_lspig), (apro_mt_lssheep) and (apro_mt_lsgoat)

Figure 2: Agricultural output, EU-28, 2012 (%)
Source: Eurostat (aact_eaa01)

Table 2: Structure of farms with livestock, 2010
Source: Eurostat (ef_olslsuft) and (ef_olslsureg)

Table 2 (continued): Structure of farms with livestock, 2010
Source: Eurostat (ef_olslsuft) and (ef_olslsureg)

Main statistical findings

Since the decoupling of subsidies in 2003 (mid-term review) and under the latest Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), there the total number of livestock has decreased for the various species. Figure 1 is based on the total number of animals by livestock species, relatively to year 2005.

Between 2005 and 2013, the sheep livestock showed the most pronounced fall of ( 11.6%) for EU-14_SHEEP followed by the total number of pigs(-8.6%) for the EU-28. The number of bovine animals fell (-3%) as wall as the number of goats (-2%) for EU-5_GOAT.

There has been a drop in the total livestock as a whole. This trend has been kept until 2013 for pigs and sheep. However the herds of bovine animals (+1.5%) and of goats (0.9%) stopped decreasing in 2013, which might indicate a slight recovery for cattle meat.

According to the Farm Structure Survey, in 2010 nearly 7 million holdings (6.92 million) reared livestock, which represents 56.5% of the EU-28 farms. Still in proportion of all farms 23.5% had pigs, 21.4% bovine animals (cattle, buffaloes, etc.) 18.7% broilers, 7.7% sheep and 4.4% had goats.

Greening of agricultural systems was one of the pursued objectives during the latest CAP reform. Although raising livestock is justifiable ecologically, it does not necessarily mean that all ways of rearing are good or that ruminants are needed everywhere. Livestock farmers are therefore forced to adapt their farming systems if they hope to preserve their income and offer products geared to the market need and to societal demand for environmental friendly farming practices.

From 2009 to 2013 it can be observed (Figure 2) that the major increasing trend is in poultry meat which has seen an increase (7.03%). Pigmeat also increased (2.65%) while bovine meat has decreased by 6.2% and sheep meat and goat meat by 6.4%.

Economic relevance of animal production in the agricultural accounts is shown by the fact that 42% (172 billion €) of the total EU-28 agricultural output corresponds to this item. Animal production covers two items. Output for Animals is the value of animals produced either directly for slaughter, or used alive for herd renewal or for further growing and fattening. It represents 61% of the animal output. Animal products account for the 39% remaining and cover eggs, milk, wool, etc.

Slaughtering in the EU-28

Table 1 draws a general picture of European meat production though the statistics on slaughtering in 2013. Pigmeat appeared as the most important meat category: nearly 22 Mio tonnes were produced, i.e. 51% of annual production of all meats, followed by poultry meat with 12.7 Mio tonnes produced (30%). Bovine meat production represented 7.3 Mio tonnes (17%) and the meat from sheep and goat accounted for only 758 thousand, around 2% of all meats.

Other slaughtering in the EU-28

So-called other slaughtering is carried out other than in slaughterhouses. It is due to margin phenomenon everywhere, including. own-consumption, traditional or ritual slaughter. But it may be locally significant due also to incomplete implementation of hygiene legislation. The European Union has strong hygiene rules, and food is tracked at all stages of the production chain including slaughtering, processing and distribution, in order to guarantee food safety throughout Europe. (See data sources and availability)

In 2013 in EU 28, 77% of other slaughtering was recorded in the Member States having entered the EU in 2004 or later. In relative terms, other slaughtering accounted for 13% of total slaughtering in the 13 newest Member States and 0.5 % in the EU 15 . The general trend is a decrease, but other slaughtering remains at a significant level in Bulgaria and Romania. In Croatia, both kinds of slaughtering were not yet distinguished in 2013.

In Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia and Lithuania, other slaughtering have decreased, especially for bovine animals, but the numbers remain significant for pigs, sheep and goats. As a margin phenomenon, other slaughtering has fallen by 56% in EU-28 between 2009 and 2013. The contribution of the various species to other slaughtering is much higher for pigs (64.2%) than for small grazing livestock (19.0%) and bovine animals (16.8%). For this latter category the “adult cattle” (one year and older) account for 11.65% and calves & young cattle for 5.15%.

More than a third of the EU-28 sheep meat from the UK alone

Table 1 summarises statistics on slaughtering in 2013. The principal meat product in the EU-28 was pig meat (22.5 million tonnes in 2012), with the weight of production almost three times as high as that of beef/veal from cattle meat (7.7 million tonnes); the production of sheep and goat meat in the EU-28 was relatively modest (0.8 and 0.06 million tonnes respectively). In contrast, the production of poultry meat continued to increase, likely triggered by higher domestic demand and relatively low prices, resulting in the production of more than 12.6 million tonnes of poultry meat in 2012.

Nearly a quarter (or almost 5.5 million tonnes) of the EU-28’s pig meat production in 2012 came from Germany, the next highest contributions being recorded for Spain (15.6 %) and France (8.8 %), while the 8.1 % share for Poland and the 7.1 % share for both Italy and Denmark were also notable. In terms of the number of animals, these six countries alone represented 70 % of the EU's total pigs slaughtered in 2012. Moreover, in these countries the share of slaughtering carried out other than in slaughterhouses was very small, not exceeding more than 1 %, with the exception of Poland where it reached 6.6 % in 2012. Unsurprisingly, countries with a higher share of small farms and hence a lower average number of animals per farm reported a higher number of animals slaughtered outside slaughter houses (Slovenia with 41 % and Romania, Croatia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Latvia with around 30 %).

Concerning the beef/veal produced in the EU-28, just under one fifth (19.4 % or almost 1.5 million tonnes) originated from France in 2012 which together with Germany (15.0 %) and Italy (12.8 %) covered nearly half of the EU-28’s total production of beef/veal. If the United Kingdom production is added (11.5 %) about 60 % of the EU-28’s production of cattle meat is reached and nearly 55 % of all the bovine animals slaughtered in the EU-28 in 2012. As for slaughtering outside slaughter houses the highest shares in 2012 were registered in Romania with 64.2 %, Bulgaria with 51.4 % and Estonia with 30 %, all of which however didn’t exceed more than 0.8 % of the total EU-28 beef/veal meat slaughtered in 2012.

The United Kingdom dominated the production of sheep meat (almost 0.3 million tonnes), with a 34.4 % share in the EU-28 total in 2012, followed by Spain (15.3 %), France (12.6 %), Greece (8.6 %) and Ireland (6.7 %). Together these five Member States were responsible for more than three-quarters of the total sheep meat slaughtered in the EU-28 in 2012.

Nearly half (30.1 thousand tonnes or 47.6 %) of the EU-28’s goat meat production in 2012 came from Greece alone, the next highest shares in production being recorded for Spain (16.3 %), France (10.4 %) and Romania (9.5 %); these four Member States thus accounting for more than four-fifths (83.7 %) of the total goat meat slaughtered in the EU-28 in 2012.

In 2012, the EU-28’s total poultry meat production was far better spread: roughly half of the slaughtered volume (49.8 % or 6.3 million tonnes) originated from four Member States: France (13.5 %), the United Kingdom (12.7 %), Poland (12.2 %) and Germany (11.3 %). Only two other Member States exceeded one million tonnes of poultry meet slaughtered: ES with 1.4 million tonnes (10.9 %) and IT with 1.3 million tonnes (9.9 %).

Development since 2005

Highest increase for poultry meat, most noticeable decline for sheep and goat meat

The decline in animal herds together with higher energy and feed costs can be considered as the main drivers affecting the production of meat in the EU-28. However, the situation differs by type of meat.

From the time series perspective (index 2005=100) the highest decrease has been reported in the sheep and goat meat production that continued to decline since 2005 (data not shown). Between the latter year and 2012, the decrease was of 23 % and 9 % respectively. A similar fall due to tighter supply and higher prices has been reported for beef/veal meat production, which has also decreased continuously for the last seven years (-7.2 % between 2005 and 2012). In contrast, a relative increase has been reported in pig meat production (+3.5 % between 2005 and 2012). As mentioned earlier, production of poultry meat showed an increasing tendency, helped by its healthy image and relative cheapness, resulting in higher domestic demand. In 2012, production reached 12.6 Mio tonnes at EU-28 level, a 15 % increase compared with 2005.

Prospects for an improved economic situation and lower grain prices could generate a slight increase in the future meat production after several consecutive years of reduced overall meat production driven mainly by lower supplies in beef and pig meat. Recent growth rates in poultry meat production are expected to slow down, while meat production from sheep and goats would most probably continue to decline.

Livestock population 2012

Only the number of cattle registered a slight increase compared with 2011

Data on livestock population categories are gathered from all EU Member States through a livestock survey conducted at least once a year (see Methodological Notes).

Based on the livestock survey carried out in December, a long-term declining trend in each animal category, which directly affected the overall meat production, has been observed. According to the results of the December 2012 survey, the EU-28 animal herd stood at 87 million heads of cattle, 147 million heads of pigs, 84 million heads of sheep and 10 million heads of goats. Compared to the previous year this meant a 1 % decline of the total EU-28 animal herd.

Similarly to the total animal herd, the number of cattle has also been continuously decreasing in the EU-28. Since 2005 the number of bovine animals dropped by 3.6 % (equivalent to 3.3 million animals). However, in 2012, the number of cattle, as the only animal category, reported a slight increase of 0.5 % compared to 2011.

As concerns the EU-28 pig herd, a continuous decline has been reported between 2005 and 2012 (from 160 million to 147 million heads). This decrease of 8 % is partially due to a decrease of the number of breeding sows (which dropped by 19 % over the same time period), linked to the application of the new animal welfare rules regarding pregnant sows that have entered into force in 2013.

In 2012 the total sheep flock in the EU-28 continued to decline (-11.1 % compared to 2005 or 10.5 million animals less) mainly due to a reduction in the numbers in Spain. Only in two Member States (Greece and Romania) has the number of sheep increased since 2005, by a total of around 2 million of animals in these countries (+1.2 million in Romania and 840 thousand in Greece).

The number of goats continued to decline according to the December 2012 survey, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years (-2.4 % between 2011 and 2012 against -7.5 % between 2010 and 2011). Although since 2005 the number of goats have increased in Romania (+84.3 %) and France (+4.3 %), this growth was largely offset by declines in Greece (-14.3 %), Spain (-7 %) and Italy (-5.7 %), resulting in an overall reduction of 0.3 million animals at EU-28 level compared with 2005.

Agricultural output

Animals and animal products worth EUR 166 billion at EU-28 level

The EU is an important player in the world meat market. After China it is the second largest producer of pig meat and also the largest exporter. In 2012, while nearly 53 % of the total EU-28 agricultural output (valued at EUR 396.9 billion) concerned crop production, animals and animal products accounted for another 42 %, while the remaining 5 % concerned agricultural services output.

Out of more than EUR 166 billion agricultural output worth of animals and animal products in 2012, animals represented a little more than 61 % , which in terms of value accounted for approximately 26.9 % of the agricultural goods output and 25.6 % of the total EU-28 agricultural output.

When only animals in animal output are considered (i.e. disregarding animal products), the highest share in 2012 could be attributed to pigs (37 %), followed by cattle (33 %) and poultry (21 %). The share of sheep and goats together with equines and other animals amounted to a little less than 10 % in 2012. This distribution is very similar to that observed one year earlier.

Farms with livestock

Farms with livestock decreased by 35 % since 2003

According to the results of the Farm Structure Survey (FSS) carried out in 2010, nearly 7 million holdings in the EU-28 reared animals, which represent 56.5 % of all EU-28 agricultural holdings (12.3 million). Among all holdings with livestock, 2.6 million holdings had cattle, 2.9 million kept pigs, 0.9 million had sheep, 0.5 million had goats and 2.3 million had broilers.

Since the last Farm Structure Survey carried out in 2003, the number of holdings with livestock reported a strong decrease of 35 %. Among the Member States with the highest share of holdings with livestock ranked Ireland (90.9 %), Croatia (83.2 %) and Slovenia (79.3 %), while the lowest share was reported in Italy with only 13.4 %. On the other hand, four Member States were responsible for more than 50 % of the EU-28’s total livestock (France 16.8 %, Germany 13.2 %, Spain 11 % and the United Kingdom 9.8 %).

In 2010, the average EU holding with livestock bred nearly 20 Livestock Units (LSU). This number varied considerably according to the type of animal and between the individual Member States. While in the most industrialised countries it was high (Denmark with 189 heads per farm, followed by the Netherlands with 133 heads and Belgium with 119 heads), the average farm in eight Member States didn’t exceed 10 animals. Among the latter, the lowest values were recorded in Romania (an average of 2 heads per farm), Bulgaria (4) and Croatia (5). The first group includes Member States with more specialised holdings on livestock breeding while the second group includes mainly countries which have large rural zones with many small farms.

As concerns cattle, and still according to the FSS results, there were slightly more than 2.6 million farms rearing nearly 89 million bovine animals in the EU-28 in 2010, corresponding to an average 34 animals per farm. This number again differs considerably depending on the country, with the highest average recorded in Cyprus (190.8), Luxembourg (136.2) and the Czech Republic (131.8) and the lowest in Romania (2.7), Bulgaria (6.1) and Lithuania (7.9). More than 62% of the EU-28 bovine animals are kept on farms having more than 100 heads of animals. Still, the highest share of holdings (36.4 %) had only between one and two bovine animals. Three Member States, France (22 %), Germany (14.1 %) and the United Kingdom (11.4 %) together accounted for nearly 50% of the total bovine animal population of the EU-28 in 2010.

Concerning the pig population, nearly 2.9 million EU-28 agricultural holdings reared slightly more than 153 million pigs in 2010, having thus on average 53.2 pigs per farm. Among the Member States with the highest average number of pigs per farm were Denmark (2 598), the Netherlands (1 743) and Ireland (1 253); Romania (3), Bulgaria (8) and Croatia HR (12) reported the lowest figures. Seventy percent of the EU-28’s pigs are kept on farms having more than 1000 animals, while more than 62 % of the EU-28 holdings had only one or two pigs. Four Member States together represented 53 % of the total pig population in the EU-28 in 2010: Germany (18 %), Spain (16.1 %), Poland (9.9 %) and France (9.1 %).

More than 900 thousand agricultural holdings across the EU-28 kept a total of nearly 96 million sheep (an average of 101.4 heads per holding). Seven Member States exceeded the average, most notably the United Kingdom with 443 sheep per farm, Spain (240) and Cyprus (192 ), while in other Member States the number of sheep did not reach more than 15 heads per farm (Malta, 11 and Lithuania, 15). Nearly half of the EU-28’s sheep are kept on farms having more than 500 animals, while more than 40% of the EU-28 holdings had between one and nine sheep. Almost half of the total EU-28 sheep population is found in only two Member States: the United Kingdom (32.3 %) and Spain (17.3 %).

Slightly more than 12 million goats were reared on around 500 thousand agricultural holdings in the EU-28 in 2010. The average number of goats per farm (22.8 animals) was exceeded by nine Member States, the highest values being reported by Cyprus (121), the Netherlands (95) and France (82). Little over half (51.5 %) of the EU-28’s goats are kept on farms having more than 200 animals, while more than 42 % of the EU-28 holdings had only one or two goats. More than one-third of the EU-28 total goat population (34.2 %) is found in Greece alone. Together with three other Member States (Spain, 19.2 %; France, 11.6 % and Romania, 10.1 %), they represented three-quarters of the total goat population in the EU-28 in 2010.

According to the FSS results, in 2010 nearly 884 million broilers were found on approximately 2.3 million farms in the EU-28, resulting in an average 386 broilers per farm. While three Member States reported more than 50 thousand heads per farm: Netherlands (69.6 thousand), the United Kingdom (59.9 thousand) and the Czech Republic (56.6 thousand), some Member States had farms with less than 200 broilers on average, the lowest numbers being reported by Romania with 22 heads per farm, followed by Croatia (156) and Portugal (192). More than one-third of the EU-28’s broiler population was bred on farms having more than 100 000 birds, while more than 98 % of all EU-28 holdings had less than 100 broilers.

Data sources and availability

The Farm Structure Survey, a robust survey with a wide scope

From 2009 onwards, the structure of livestock rearing no longer forms part of an EU survey as such. Thus, the data are drawn from the FSS. Although this provides a wider scope (including land use, livestock, labour force, etc.) and a longer reference period, the results are less informative about the animal population than the data previously collected through the Livestock survey. Every third year, the Farm Structure Survey records data about the farm structure, which can be used for describing the structure of animal herds. The legal basis for the FSS is Regulation 1166/2008.

The Member States collect information on land use, livestock numbers, rural development, management and farm labour input from individual agricultural holdings. Based on the share of virtual value for standard output, activities of the farm (e.g. specialist cattle – rearing and fattening) are used to classify the type of farming. If the share of standard output from a particular activity items is more than two thirds of the total farm output, it is classified as ‘specialist acrtivity’.

Livestock survey

The legal basis of the data collection on slaughtering and meat production is Regulation 1165/2008 of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics. The purpose of this Regulation is to establish a common legal framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on bovine, pig, sheep and goat livestock; slaughtering statistics on bovine animals, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry; and production forecasts of beef, veal, pigmeat, sheepmeat and goatmeat.

The livestock survey provides information about the livestock population at the national and regional level twice a year. The relevant data are intended to be more precise than the FSS figures. Furthermore, the nomenclature of livestock contains more animal categories. The surveys are conducted in all the EU countries at least once a year (in November/December). The Member States with at least 1.5 million bovine animals conduct a second survey in May/June. The regional data refer to the November/December survey. Moreover those Member States with less than 500.000 sheep do not have to survey the sheep population. The same exception concerns those Member States having less than 500.000 goats. Thus data on sheep populations have to be provided by only 13 Member States: BG, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, HU, NL, PT, RO and UK which in 2009 (QR 2010) covered 97.2 % of the total EU-28 sheep population. Data on goat populations are due by only 5 Member States: EL, ES, FR, IT, and RO and those countries covered 83.0 % of the total EU-28 goat population in 2009 (QR 2010).

Data on slaughtering and meat production are collected on a monthly basis. In order to improve comparability of the results across Member States, two data sets are now collected, data on slaughtering in slaughterhouses and on slaughtering carried out other than in slaughterhouses. The latest are collected in order to estimate the total production.

Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA)

The EAA is a satellite account of the European System of Accounts (ESA1995) providing complementary information and concepts adapted to the particular nature of the agricultural industry. Although their structure very closely matches that of the national accounts, their compilation requires formulating of appropriate rules and methods. Agricultural output measures the value of agricultural products (crop and animal products) produced during the accounting period. It includes the value of agricultural services and excludes the intra-unit consumption.

Context

This article draws a portrait of the meat production in the EU in 2012, with a particular focus on slaughtering. It also deals with the structure of the European farms and the livestock population.

A 'Statistics in focus' publication will result from this article.

Further Eurostat information

Data visualisation

Symbols & country abbreviations

‘:’ not available

‘c’ confidential data

‘:z’ not applicable

Main tables

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries, see:

Agricultural production (t_apro)

Livestock and meat(t_apro_cp)

production of meat: pigs (tag00042)

Production of meat: cattle (tag00044)

Production of meat: sheep and goats (tag00045)

Production of meat: poultry (tag00043)

Database

Agriculture, see:

Farm structure 2010 (ef_2010)

Overview - Farm livestock (ef_ols)