Australia's pork production to fall in 2023

Australia's pork production is projected to decline by 3% in 2023 to 425,000 tons, following stronger-than-expected production in 2022. Pork producers in early 2023 faced the challenge of high feed grain prices compared to pork prices, which is expected to affect slaughter. quantity and production of pork in the second half of 2023.

Pork consumption is forecast to decline slightly in 2023 to 630,000 tonnes (CWE). Consumption in 2022 was the highest on record at around 642,000 tons (CWE), but may be partly due to importers taking advantage of lower EU pork prices than the previous year. Analysts expect EU pork import prices to be higher in 2023, which could dampen Australia's enthusiasm for pork imports in the forecast year.

Australia imports over a third of its pork needs and imports are projected to remain steady at 240,000 tonnes (CWE) in 2023. Exports, which are very low at only about 8% of production, are also expected to remain stable in 2023 at 35,000 tons (CWE).