0
French pig production has dropped considerably, due, to a large extent, to the constant decrease in the number of sows since 2010, despite their increase in prolificacy.
In 2017, the downward trend in meat and processed products (beef, sheep, pork, fowl) consumption went on. For the pig sector, the consumption slowness in the domestic market has been accompanied by a stability in the imports, but with the decline of the French exports impaired by the deceleration of the Chinese purchases, despite a partial reorientation of the exports to other Asian countries. The trade deficit has grown.
After a strong increase in 2016, pork production in France fell significantly (more pronouncedly than in the rest of the EU) in 2017. In the first nine months of 2017, the decrease in the slaughtering of pigs was more pronounced than at a European level: -2.7%. The average weight remained stable during this period. After the spectacular rise in 2016, based exclusively on the Chinese demand, the European and French markets registered in 2017 the effects of the deceleration in the Chinese purchases. The pork exports fell as the imports settled. As a result, the foreign trade deficit grew again in 2017. The recovery in the pork prices, that started in the second semester of 2016, went on until June 2017, before a very pronounced deceleration. The domestic demand is still slow. Nevertheless, the aggregate value during the first nine months of 2017 shows a significant increase in prices.
December 2017/ Agreste Panorama – no. 5/ MAA/ France.
http://agreste.agriculture.gouv.fr/
