Abstract:

The pig sector is one of the most economically significant farming sectors in the European Union (EU) and pork is the most consumed meat. The EU is the world’s second biggest producer of pork, after China, and the biggest exporter of pork and pork products. The main producer countries, Germany, Spain and France, represent about half of the EU’s total production. A significant number of animals are kept in backyard systems to provide pork for the family and the local market. The major production basin extends from Germany to Belgium and accounts for 30% of the sows in the EU. Other important pig producing regions are Catalonia, Murcia, Lombardy, Bretagne and some areas of central Poland and Northern Croatia. Small-scale pig producers are mostly found in Eastern Europe where small units rearing 3.8% of pigs account for 73.3% of the pig farms. Following the current African swine fever (ASF) epidemic in the Eastern EU countries since 2014, the pig sector has greatly changed, with a decrease in the number of small sized pig holdings. An in-depth analysis of the impact of ASF on the structure of the pig farming system in the EU has not yet been conducted. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the last report on Global Food Markets reported that there has been a contraction in the meat markets, due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and losses linked to the occurrence of serious epidemic diseases in livestock. While the effects of ASF and other animal diseases are confined to the countries affected, COVID-19 is having widespread impacts on all types of meat production systems.