Portugal: Decrease in pig slaughter in the first half of 2020
The following information about pig slaughter in Portugal for the first six months of 2020 is from data published by the GPP, provided as preliminary data by INE. Highlights include a 4.5% reduction in the number of heads slaughtered, strongly influenced by a major reduction in piglet slaughter, with slaughter weight also falling 1.2% compared to the same period last year.
Data on the slaughters in Portugal during the first half of 2020 shows a reduction of 4.5% in the total number of animals slaughtered compared to the same period in 2019 (2,507,832 in 2020 vs 2,625,760 in 2019). These numbers are broken down between 1,999,976 head of slaughter pigs (-1.8% from 2019 with 2,035,884 head slaughtered), 486,465 piglets (-14.4% from the same period of 2019 with 575,188 head) and 21,391 breeding pigs (+45.6% from 2019 with 14,688 head).
Regarding the export and import of live pigs for slaughter between January and June 2020, compared to the same period in 2019; the import of pigs for slaughter increased by 1.1% (515,876 head in 2020 vs 511,025 head in 2019). Portuguese live pigs exported for slaughter more than doubled (+106.2%) from 134,521 head in 2019 to 277,345 head in 2020, a clear sign that the price of pigs in Portugal is much lower than the price paid in Spain since these almost 300,000 pigs were sold directly to Spanish slaughterhouses.
