Argentina boosts pork production to record high in 2022

The volume of slaughtered animals also rose by 2.4% to 7,666,022 heads in the same period. According to official data, the trend was noticeable at the beginning of this year.

Pork exports fell

In the first 2 months of 2023, 1.2 million animals were processed. This is 10.6% more than in the same period last year, when 1.1 million pigs were processed. However, pork exports fell by 80% to 9,400 tons in 2022. CHINA significantly reduced imports from Argentina in the second half of the year. Thanks to the increased availability of pork, per capita pork consumption increased by 6.1% in 2022. This is a new record.

“The recovery of external demand will put the pig industry on a growth path. New outbreaks of African swine fever in China could boost exports to pre-Covid-19 levels,” the report said.

Production regions in Argentina

Córdoba has the highest number of animals for slaughter (341,000), followed by Buenos Aires (322,000); Santa Fe (196,000), Entre Rios (107,000) and San Luis (61,000). These 5 regions contain 88.4% of the total livestock. This share has remained stable over the past 5 years. 

CAGR 3.4%

Researchers Juan Manuel Garzón and Lautaro Sibilla from the Institute for Research (IERAL) of the Mediterranean Foundation said that the Argentine pig industry has been on the rise in recent years. According to them, between 2018 and 2023, the country is increasing pig production by an average of 3.4% per year. There are currently 414 slaughterhouses in Argentina, 104 of which slaughter cattle and pigs. About 60 focus on pigs alone, and about 250 focus on cattle.