Belgian pig slaughters stabilized in 2024
This is reported by the Flemish agricultural marketing office VLAM in a recent press release, referring to recently published figures from the Belgian statistics office Statbel. According to current figures from the Belgian statistics office Statbel, 9.4 million pigs were slaughtered commercially in Belgium. Compared to the previous year, this is a slight increase of 0.4% or 34,000 slaughters.
According to VLAM, many Belgian pig farmers have reduced production or stopped pig farming altogether in recent years due to unsatisfactory producer prices and an uncertain legal framework. In addition, the Flemish government has made subsidies available to pig farmers who want to quit in order to reduce nitrogen emissions in nature reserves, which has also had a negative impact on the herd and thus on the slaughter figures. In 2023, the number of animals slaughtered shrank to 9.36 million. This means that for the first time in more than 30 years, fewer than ten million pigs were slaughtered in Belgium in 2023. Joris Coenen, Manager of the Belgian Meat Office, explains the slight increase in slaughter figures in 2024 with an improved market situation: The better producer prices in 2024 have obviously given pig farmers a motivation boost: the downward trend seems to have stopped . Coenen expects the slaughter figures to stabilize at the previous year's level in 2025.
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