EU pig meat exports still up in October and November

By Bethan Wilkins

EU pig meat exports were higher than 2019 levels in the autumn of last year. This was despite the ban on German exports to China and other important third country markets, which came in when ASF was discovered in German wild boar in September.

Looking at fresh/frozen pork specifically, exports grew by about 15% in both October and November, versus the previous year. Volumes totalled 366,000 tonnes in October and 389,000 tonnes in November.

China remained the driving force behind the growth, with shipments increasing by 16% year-on-year across the two months. Exports to Hong Kong also saw strong growth and more than doubled, although the absolute volumes involved are smaller. These increases more than compensated for reduced volumes sent to another leading Asian market, South Korea.

With average prices lower in euro terms (although less so in US dollars due to the weak dollar), the value of fresh/frozen pork exports across October and November was similar to 2019, at €2 billion.

In contrast, pig offal exports were down on year earlier levels in October and November, falling by 5% to 241,000 tonnes. In this case, decreased shipments to China depressed the overall export volume. Chinese exports were down 20% to 129,000 tonnes. Growth to the smaller market of Hong Kong (+45%) failed to fully compensate for this reduction.

Aside from processed products (which are primarily traded with the UK), pig fat is also exported from the EU, though volumes have been lower since the 2014 Russian import ban. Nonetheless, these volumes have been creeping up again in recent years. Growth continued in October and November 2020, up 19% on a year earlier to 54,000 tonnes. The largest market, China, took over a quarter more. However, there was a more mixed picture from other smaller markets. Overall, the volume exported was still over 20% lower than 2013 levels, before the Russian ban, and value remained 16% below this point.

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