Belgium records lowest pig slaughter in 30 years

The number of pigs slaughtered in Belgium fell by almost 10% in 2022 to 10.5 million pigs, a level not seen in the last 30 years. This is about one million pigs less than the 11.6 million slaughtered in 2021. By weight, pigs still make up the largest share of Belgian slaughter at 1.03 billion kilograms, representing 60% of the total slaughter weight in 2022.

The number of livestock slaughtered also fell to its lowest level in at least 40 years. Around 755,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2022, down 2% from a year earlier and nearly 18% down from the peak year of 2017, when over 920,000 cattle were slaughtered. Chicken slaughter was also down 2% in 2022, with 298 million units slaughtered.

In 2022, the average monthly slaughter by species was as follows: 25 million chickens, 877,000 pigs, 63,000 cattle, 60,000 turkeys, 8,000 sheep, 3,000 ducks, 2,000 goats and 110 horses.