UK pig slaughterings were up 17% year on year in July, according to new Defra data, following a significant revision of its most recent pig slaughter figures.
There has been uncertainty over UK and GB supply numbers for many weeks, after errors in the data going into the figures were identified. In its latest UK pig slaughterings update, Defra reveals that the figures for April to July 2024 have now been modified due to missing data.
It shows a figure for July UK clean pig slaughterings of 931,000 head, a big 17% year-on-year increase on the July 2022 figure of 793,000 head.
The June UK slaughter figure has been revised upwards from 791,000 head to 827,000, while the May figure was lifted by an even greater margin, from an initial estimate of 783,000 head to 852,000 head.
Even with these upward revisions, the July weekly slaughter average of 210,000 head was 9% up on both May and June.
July 2024 Pigmeat production, at 86,000 tonnes, was 19% higher than the 72,000t recorded in July 2023, and also 9% up on May and 12% up on June, although the different number of working days has to be factored into the equation in the latter comparisons.
Carcase weights averaged 89.9kg in July, fractionally up on May and June.
The nature of the missing data remains unclear, but Defra notes all of these figures remain provisional and subject to further revision.
AHDB’s estimated GB slaughterings, which have been affected by the Defra data issues and also remain subject to revision, showed a marginal increase to 158,947 head for the week ended August 10, although this was 1,200 down on last year and nearly 15,000 below the same week in 2022.