Record number of pigs slaughtered in Germany

The total number of pigs slaughtered in Germany in the first 6 months of 2015 has grown by 2.3% to a record number of 29.3 million pigs.

Figures from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reveal that the total amount of slaughtered pigs grew year-on-year by 673,000. This growth is mainly due to the number of slaughtered pigs that was farrowed and reared in Germany.

This domestic finisher pig production grew between January and July 2015 by 3%, which equals an increase of 780,600 animals. The number of finishers that was farrowed and reared abroad, but finished in Germany, dropped in these same six months in 2015 by 4.8% when compared to one year before.

In the first 6 months of 2015, slaughterhouses in Germany have also processed a record amount of pork of 2.76 million tonnes. This was an increase of 67,000 tonnes of meat – a 2.5% year-on-year increase.

On the whole, in this timeframe, all German meatpackers jointly processed a record amount of meat, in total 4.07 million tonnes more than in 2014. The share of pork has had a large share in that.