Completed summer pig census in 11 EU Member States
According to the current status of the pig censuses completed in the individual EU Member States from May to July 2013, a decline of -1.4% was recorded compared to the previous year.
Particularly sharp declines in total pig numbers were recorded in Italy (-6.6%), Austria (-3%) and Spain (-2.9%). A decrease of -1.6% was confirmed for Germany. The herds in the Netherlands and France remained largely unchanged. However, a 4.8% increase in the extremely reduced pig population was reported for Poland.
The reported figures can certainly be reconciled with the price developments of the past period. Among other things, the high prices in Italy and Spain are understandable.
The sow herd in the 11 Member States is -2.3% lower. The largest reductions occurred in Spain (-6.8 %) and Germany (-6.5 %). Austria also had to make considerable losses with a -4.1 % reduction in the sow herd. One of the main reasons for the decline is likely to be the new EU sow husbandry regulation.
Denmark reported unchanged sow numbers.
An increase in sow numbers of +1.3 % was recorded in Poland, +0.7 % in Italy and +0.8 % in the Netherlands. Exceptionally high increases in the number of pregnant sows were reported by Italy (+3.3%) and Poland (+4.9%).
The 11 Member States represent around 50% of the EU pig population.
With all due caution towards the cattle census results, the data with the reduction in the number of sows indicates at least a stagnation of the EU pig population for the foreseeable future into 2014.
Corrections:
A typing error has been made in the original text, instead of 50% it should read 80%. (83.5% would be even more accurate, depending on the reference value)
It is only indirectly clear from the text that this is a source at European level. Only EUROSTAT comes into question.
Belgium was excluded from the selection of representative countries because there is always uncertainty as to whether Belgium and Luxembourg are counted together and Belgium is of little significance due to its small size.
