England has seen a significant reduction in the number of pigs

According to official data, at the end of 2021, the breeding herd was 295,000 heads, which is 6.9% less than a year earlier.

The pig population in England has decreased by almost 7% during 2021. The number of breeding sows was 295,000 heads, which is 6.9% (22,000 heads) less than a year earlier. According to the latest data published by Defra, the number of sows has already decreased by 32,000 heads. The data also shows that there were 3.7 million market pigs on farms at the time, more than 10% more than on the same day a year earlier.

“Producers in this sector have suffered from low profitability for several quarters, facing rising costs and falling hog prices. Constraints on hog slaughter capacity growth mean that farms have a large number of pigs ready for sale, which only exacerbates the situation. So some producers are leaving the sector and others are cutting production,” said Duncan Wyatt, Lead Analyst at Red MEAT, AHDB.

Labor shortages in the agricultural and processing sectors have also been a problem for the UK pig industry in the last quarter of 2021. In addition, pork prices in the UK are much higher than in the EU, CHINA or other markets around the world - a situation that makes it difficult for British exporters to trade pork.