Germany: Three pig farmers surrender every day

Niemcy: Codziennie poddaje się trzech hodowców trzody chlewnej

Data from the Federal Statistical Office from the May livestock census show that more and more pig farmers are emptying their pig sheds. The crisis has worsened in recent months. Within half a year – from November 2023 to May 2024. – an average of 2.7 companies a day stopped breeding pigs – reports Agrarheute.

At the beginning of May this year. There were 15,700 pig breeding farms in Germany. 10 years ago there were 11,400 more. This is a drastic drop, by as much as 42.2%. Within six months from November 2023 to May 2024, 500 farms stopped producing pigs, which already represented 3.2% of German pig farmers.

However, data from the Federal Statistical Office also show a structural change: although there are fewer and fewer farms breeding pigs, the pig population has not decreased so drastically because production has been concentrated. As of May 3, German farmers were breeding a total of 20.9 million pigs. This is 1.3% and 175,200 animals less than six months earlier. However, over the last 10 years, the pig population in Germany has decreased by 25.4% and by 7.1 million animals.

The number of farms keeping pigs is decreasing faster than the pig population. As you can easily guess, smaller producers are disappearing from the market, which means that family farms are giving up. While 10 years ago a pig farmer kept an average of 1,000 animals, today there are already 1,300.

Interestingly, however, statistics show that the number of pigs for fattening is decreasing. In May this year There were 2% of pigs for fattening, i.e. 195,200 fewer than six months earlier. The share of piglets and weaners decreased by 0.8%, or 85.9 thousand. pieces, and the number of breeding sows remains almost constant.