According to preliminary results, commercial slaughter companies in Germany produced almost 3.5 million tons of meat in the first half of 2022. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that this is 7.9% less than the same period last year. In total, 25.8 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses, as well as 353.2 million chickens, turkeys and ducks were slaughtered in slaughterhouses in the first half of 2022. 10.1% less pork than in H1 2021

In the first six months of the year, German farms slaughtered 23.8 million pigs. This corresponds to a year-on-year decrease of approximately 2.3 million animals slaughtered or 8.9%. The volume of pork produced in the first half of 2022 amounted to 2.3 million tons, which is 10.1% lower than in the same period of the previous year (-253.8 thousand tons). The average carcass weight of pigs also decreased by just over one kilogram to 96.31 kilograms. One of the reasons for the decline in pork production is the reduction in the number of pigs in Germany.

Beef production is 9.1% lower than the same period last year

In total, farms in Germany slaughtered about 1.4 million cattle in the first half of 2022. Compared to the previous year, this represents a decrease of 8.1% (-127,200 animals). The volume of beef produced for the reporting period decreased by 9.1% to 476,100 tons (-47,500 tons) compared to 2021. With a weight of 329.53 kilograms, the average weight of cattle was about 3.6 kilograms lower than the weight of the same period last year.

Poultry meat production is largely constant

Much less than the production of pork and beef, the amount of poultry meat produced decreased in the 1st half of 2022. At the level of about 771.6 thousand tons, 0.2% less poultry meat was produced than in the same period of the previous year (-1,800 tons).