Livestock counting results ring in changes

As many as about one million less carcass pigs are currently available for slaughter all over Germany than were last year. On the basis of the recently published May 2004 livestock counting results, this was calculated by the Interessengemeinschaft der Schweinehalter Nord-Westdeutschland e. V. (ISN).

The livestock has decreased by more than 7 percent alone in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, where more than 50 percent of all German pigs are being held. According to the ISN this means that in those two lands alone 460 000 carcass pigs are currently missing to be put on the market.

Given structural deficits, compared to North West Germany, in carcass pigs' marketing in the other lands the decrease in stock has become even clearer. About 9 percent less carcass pigs are held in Baden-Württemberg. The figure amounts to 10 percent less carcass pigs in Saxony-Anhalt and to an even 12 percent decrease in Hesse.