Spanish meat industry on the rise

According to ANICE, the Spanish MEAT industry is in fourth place among all industrial sectors in the country, behind only the automotive, oil and fuel industries or energy supply, as well as sectors such as the chemical or metallurgy industry.

In addition, it should be noted that direct employment in the sector in meat enterprises is 99,854 workers who operate mainly in rural areas; representing 25.2% of total employment in the Spanish food industry.

The meat sector consists of 2,800 companies, including slaughterhouses, butchers and processors, with a very important base of small and medium-sized family companies, including large business groups, some of which are leaders. on a European scale.

Thanks to the role of the meat industry, which consists mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises located in uninhabited areas, it is possible to maintain economic activity in territories where few other industries can, avoiding depopulation, helping to create wealth, territorial cohesion and employment. . In addition, the sustainability industry is helping to consolidate the socio-economic fabric of these regions, becoming, as part of the meat value chain, the main economic driver in rural Spain.

Meat production in Spain hit a record high in 2020 with a total of 7.6 million tonnes of meat, up 5.1% from 2019, according to a study of cattle slaughter conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and food (MARA).

Of the total production in 2020, the main category remains pork, which amounted to 5,023,534 tons, which is 8.2% more than in 2019, representing more than 65% of the total meat production.

Spain became the fourth largest producer of pork with 4.4% of the world production, and the European Union as a whole is the second largest producer in the world with 22.7% of the total.

In contrast, beef production fell 2.5% compared to 2019 to 677,296 tons. Beef ranks third in terms of volume, with 8.9% of the national meat production, although internationally in this type, Spain is the furthest away from the leading positions in world production, which is led by the United States and Brazil.

The production of sheep and goat meat reached 124,467 tons, and decreased by 5.5% compared to the volume of 2019. At the European level, following the UK's exit from the European Union, Spain became Europe's leading producer of sheep and goat meat, accounting for 15.6% of the total, ahead of France (11.2%), Greece (9.2%) and Ireland (8.4%).

Finally, in terms of processed meat production, Spain is in fourth place in the European Union with more than 1.4 million tons of processed meat per year, behind only Germany, Italy and France.