The latest information on international pig production in Europe and further afield, showing a clear upward trend in prices, has been released by the EU.

It shows the average EU price across the class range is €173.90 per 100kg carcass weight. For class S pigs, the price is €174.60, while class E pigs make €172.70 (both per 100kg carcass weight). Piglets make an EU average of €59.50 per head.

The above prices have all increased since the same time last month – by between 1.1% (for piglets) and 1.7% (for class E pigs). Prices for both the overall average and for the class S average rose by 1.3%.

Since last year, EU prices for pigs in all three measurements rose by 27.6%, 27.9% and 27.3% for the overall average, class S and class E pigs respectively. Prices for piglets have shot up by 50% compared to last year’s prices.

According to the data released on world weekly average pig prices for the period 2015 to 2017, given in terms of €/100kg carcass, EU prices are currently the highest of the group comprised also of US, Canadian and Brazilian prices.

For the latest quotations, dated May 8, 2017, the EU price of €173.85 compares favourably to the US price of €136.75, the Brazilian price of €133.61, and the Canadian price of €122.01.

The information compiled by the commission also shows the distribution of pig producers across the EU. For 2016, 23.23t million of pig meat were produced by the EU.

Of this, Germany was by far the largest producer, contributing some 5.57t million (24%) to the overall figure. The next largest producer was Spain, with 4.06t million, or 17% of the total. Rounding off the top three was France with 1.99t million (9%).

Regarding pig slaughter, 256.94 million pigs were killed in 2016, which is up slightly on the previous year (255.54 million pigs) and well up on 2014 (248.73 million pigs).

On global production of pig meat, the EU is second largest, accounting for 19% of the total, behind China – easily the largest producer with some 48% of the global figure. The third largest global source is the USA with a 9% share.

Source: European Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development. Source data: Eurostat & GTA (Global Trade Atlas)

As of March 2017, the EU remains the world’s largest exporter of pig meat, followed by the USA and Canada in second and third place respectively.

Meanwhile, going by the same time-frame, the biggest global importer of pig meat is China (including Hong Kong), followed by Japan, and then Mexico.