Germany: Meat production increased in the first half of 2024

09-Aug-2024

According to preliminary results, commercial slaughterhouses in Germany produced just under 3.4 million tons of meat in the first half of 2024. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this was 1.3% more than in the same period last year. In total, 24 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses as well as 344.3 million chickens, turkeys and ducks were slaughtered in slaughterhouses in the first half of 2024.

Slight increase in pork production in the first half of the year for the first time since 2016

In the first six months of the year, farms in Germany slaughtered 21.9 million pigs. This corresponds to a slight increase of 0.4% (78,100 animals) compared to the previous year.

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96.6% of these pigs (21.2 million) were of domestic origin. Here, too, there was an increase of 0.4% or 86,600 animals compared to the previous year. Of foreign origin, 734,000 pigs were slaughtered in the first half of the year. This corresponds to a decrease of 1.1% compared to the same period last year. The proportion of pigs of foreign origin in the total number of pigs slaughtered in the first half of 2024 was 3.4%.

The volume of pork produced in the first half of 2024 amounted to 2.1 million tons and was therefore 1.1% (+22,400 tons) higher than in the same period of the previous year. For the first time since 2016, there was a slight increase in pork production in the first half of the year following a continuous decline in German slaughterings. In the first half of 2016, however, 7.4 million more pigs were slaughtered and, at 2.8 million tons, 661,400 tons more pork was produced than in 2024.

Beef production 2.5% higher than in the same period last year

In total, farms in Germany slaughtered around 1.5 million cattle in the first half of 2024. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of 1.3% (+18,300 animals). Compared to the first half of 2023, the volume of beef produced rose by 2.5% to 496,600 tons (+12,000 tons). At just under 337 kilograms, the average slaughter weight of cattle was around 4 kilograms higher than in the same period of the previous year.

Poultry meat production increased by 1.3

In the first half of 2024, a total of 344.3 million animals of various poultry species were slaughtered in Germany. Although the number of animals slaughtered barely increased, around 780,700 tons of poultry meat was produced in the first half of 2024, 1.3% more than in the same period of the previous year (+9,700 tons).

Pork accounts for the largest share of production

Pork has accounted for the largest share of commercial meat production in Germany for years. In the first half of 2024, 62.0% of the meat produced came from slaughtered pigs. This was followed by poultry meat with a share of 23.0% and beef with 14.6%. Meat from sheep, goats and horses only accounted for around 0.4% of total production.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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