Irish pig breeding herd has declined by 4%
Irish pig breeding herd has declined by 4% in the first half of the year, accounting for only 143,000 head. "This is the smallest breeding herd in 30 years. This suggests that supplies later in the year and early next could be tighter", according to Felicity Rusk, an AHDB analyst.
The biggest decline was in the herd of boars used for service (-15%), followed by pig gilts (-7%) and sows (-4%).
On the other hand, the Irish pig inventory was down by only 0.4% compared to the same period last year, standing at 1.61 million head. Nevertheless, the reduction in the breeding herd has negatively influenced the pig meat production in the country by 1%, going down to 153,000 tonnes, and that could decline even more in the following months.
That situation affected exports of fresh and frozen pork, who have declined by 7% on the year. Significant losses were recorded in the UK and German markets were the decline was of 21% and 10% respectively. Exports to China were up by over a third on the year, at 29,200 tonnes but not enough to compensate for the decline in the EU market.
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