Germany imported significantly fewer pigs in 2025
In 2025, a total of approximately 10.47 million live pigs were imported into Germany. This was about 9.4% fewer than in 2024. As usual, piglets made up the majority of live imports. At 9.71 million imported piglets, their number was 5.8% lower than the previous year. The decline was even more pronounced for imported slaughter pigs. With only around 760,000 animals, slaughter pig imports fell by 39.2% compared to 2024.
Denmark remained by far the most important supplier of piglets to the German market in 2025, with approximately 7.33 million animals. However, Danish deliveries declined slightly by 1.3% compared to the previous year. The overall decrease in piglet imports was primarily due to the significant drop in imports from the Netherlands. These fell by around 500,000 animals, or 18.5%, to 2.33 million piglets.
The reason for this was a shift in trade flows: Over the course of the year, the Netherlands delivered significantly more piglets to Spain, which, with around 2.67 million animals, became the most important buyer of Dutch piglets. However, with the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Spain at the end of November, these trade flows changed again. Afterwards, exports of Dutch piglets to Spain declined significantly. The additional Dutch piglets that became available do not appear to have been exported to Germany since then. No significant increase in piglet exports to Germany is evident in December 2025.
Decline in slaughter pig deliveries from neighboring countries
Imports of slaughter pigs to Germany also showed significant shifts last year. Approximately 550,000 pigs were imported from the Netherlands for slaughter, about 37.4% fewer than the previous year. Imports from Belgium, approximately 140,000 slaughter pigs, crossed the German border, 44.2% fewer than the previous year.
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