Germany

Germany: Significant decrease in the slaughter of pigs in 2022

In 2022, 25.83 million animals were slaughtered on a monthly basis, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In terms of weight, pigs account for the largest share (60%, 877,000 pigs on a monthly basis). Chickens register the highest numbers, with 24.8 million chickens slaughtered per month.

Posted on Mar 15 ,00:10

Significant decrease for pigs and chickens, continued decrease for beef

Over the year 2022, 755,000 bovine animals were slaughtered. This is a decrease of 2% compared to the previous year, confirming the downward trend already started in 2017.

In addition, 10.5 million pigs were slaughtered. This is a significant decrease of 9% compared to 2021. This decrease brings the number of pigs slaughtered to a level even lower than in the crisis year 2019.

298 million chickens were slaughtered in 2022. We can see here a decrease of 2%.

Pigs register the highest weight

With a share of 60% in terms of weight, the pig sector remains the largest contributor of slaughtered animals. That is 1.03 billion kg of pig meat every year.
The poultry sector accounts for 26% of the slaughter weight, with 442 million kg of chicken meat.
The bovine sector has a share of 14% in terms of weight, with a total of 238 million kg of bovine meat.

Chickens register the highest numbers per month

If we look at the average number of slaughtered animals per month, we get approximately:

25 million chickens
877,000 pigs
63,000 bovine animals
60,000 turkeys
8,000 sheep
4,000 other poultry
3,000 ducks
2,000 goats
110 horses

Animal slaughters : provisional figures for January

62,158 bovine animals were slaughtered in January 2023. The number of slaughtered pigs was 815,773 animals, and the number of slaughtered chickens amounted to 24,613,341 units.