UK pork production falls to five-year low

Carcass weights, averaging 89.1kg, were lower throughout 2023 compared to 2022, when a long backlog in pig slaughter resulted in higher weights for a variety of reasons.

The UK produced 71,900 tonnes of pork in December , down 18% on the final month of 2022, the National Pig Association (NPA) said. “Adverse wet weather conditions caused flooding and wider damage during the month and may have affected capacity of abattoirs,” said senior analyst Freya Shuttleworth from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

The UK Department for Environment, Forestry and Rural Affairs (Defra) previously reported that the overall UK pig population fell by more than 10% between June 2022 and the same month last year. Feeder herd numbers fell by 11.2% to 4.26 million HEAD in June 2023, the lowest figure recorded since 2015, reflecting the decline in UK breeding herds in 2022 amid a two-year industry crisis and the impact on fertility heat in the summer of 2022. 

The UK had to import 71,300 tonnes of pork in November, up 1,200 tonnes on the previous month. Between August and November, UK pork imports were consistently higher than the month before. For the first 11 months of 2023, imports remained 2% lower at 720,000 tonnes. Numerous factors are driving the increase in import volumes, with lower domestic production remaining the dominant factor, as previously reported by the AHDB.