EU pig farming on the brink

“We are going blind,” said Err Carol Joliffe, who breeds pigs in Brittany. “We would like to invest, but we don’t know where we are going.”

Pig prices rose sharply in Europe last year as production declined due to high grain and energy prices. But unlike previous cycles, European pig producers have been slow to resume production despite record prices this year that have restored profitability to many farms.

Analysts predict that pork production in the European Union will decline for the second year in a row in 2023, resulting in a cumulative decline of around 10%, with output likely to fall further in the coming years.

“This is a structural shift,” said Jean-Paul Cimier, MEAT analyst and author of the French commodity review Cyclope. “This is the de-intensification of European production.”

In the last decade, the EU pig industry has been hit by a Russian trade embargo, the westward spread of African swine fever, and the covid-19 pandemic . After recovering from these crises, helped by a surge in demand from CHINA , the pressure on European manufacturers seems to be reaching a climax.

Farmers fear that revisions to EU livestock rules, which could phase out cages and extend industrial pollution limits to more farms, will cost billions and lower EU pork prices in EXPORT and domestic markets.