Meat production in Germany declined by 1.7% year-on-year, or 64,500 tonnes, in the first half of 2021, according to the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
In this period, 28.3 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses were slaughtered in commercial slaughterhouses in Germany.
Meat production from slaughtered animals, including poultry, amounted to 3.8 million tonnes.
The amount of pork produced from commercial slaughter amounted to 2.5 million tonnes in the first half, 1.2% lower than in the same period the previous year.
In January, the slaughter weight of pigs reached a high of 99.0 kilograms per animal as pigs stayed longer in stalls and gained weight following the temporary closure or reduction in the capacity of slaughterhouses due to the pandemic.
In the following months, the slaughter weight of pigs declined, and in June, it stood at 96.6 kilogram per animal.
Beef And Poultry Meat
Commercial beef production fell by 1.0% in the first six months of 2021, to 518,000 tonnes, compared to the same period last year.
This decline is mainly attributed to a 4.4% year-on-year decline in production in the first quarter of 2021.
The volume of poultry meat produced in this period fell far more sharply than pork and beef, Destatis noted.
At around 773,400 tonnes, 3.5% less poultry meat was produced in the first half of 2021 than in the same period last year.
For years, pork comprised the largest share of commercial meat production in Germany, data showed.
Overall Shares
In the first half of 2021, almost two-thirds (65.9%) of the meat came from pigs, followed by poultry at 20.2%, and beef with a share of 13.5%.
Sheep, goat and horse meat constituted around 0.4% of total production.
Since 2000, poultry meat production has registered a sharp growth of 109%, while pork production rose by less than a third at 30%, Destatis added.
Elsewhere, German meat producer Tönnies reported full-year sales of €7.05 billon for its 2020 financial year, a 3% drop compared to the previous year, largely due to COVID-related effects.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Dayeeta Das. For more Fresh Produce news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
