According to the May-June 2017 livestock survey, the sow herd in the main pigmeat producing countries reversed the declining trend of the last 2 years, rising 1.2 % since the December 2016 survey. This is due mostly to a significant increase in the Spanish herd (+101 000 heads). Other countries expanding their herd were the Netherlands (+43 000 heads) and Poland (+26 000 heads), which is partially offset by reductions in Romania (-35 000 heads), France (-16 000 heads), Germany (-15 000 heads) and Denmark (-8 000 heads).
The previous reductions in the sow herd have been reflected in the EU´s production capacity, with the volume of slaughterings falling by close to 2 % in the first half of 2017 and declines in all the main producing countries except Denmark and Spain.
![](https://www.pig333.com/3tres3_common/dist_nou/css/images/imb5.png)
The fall in production is expected to taper off by the end of the year, reflecting the increase in the herd size. Hence, the forecast for the full year is a decline of 1.1 %, compared to 2016, while for 2018 EU production is expected to rise by 1 %.
Thursday October 5, 2017/ DG Agriculture/ European Union.
https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/