Slaughtered the lowest number of pigs and cattle in decades | internal

There was a decline in almost all categories – except for goats – but the most striking drop was for pigs: -9% to 10.5 million heads slaughtered last year. “This decrease brings the number of pig slaughters to a level even lower than it was in the 2019 crisis,” says Statbull. It is also the lowest number in thirty years. Pigs account for the largest share on a weight basis: 1.03 billion kilograms, or 60 percent of the total weight slaughtered in 2022.

The number of cattle slaughtered last year reached its lowest level in at least forty years (the stats go back to 1981). There were just over 755,000, 2 percent less than in 2021. “This further confirms the downward trend that began in 2017,” says Statbel. That year there was a peak when more than 920,000 cattle were slaughtered, but since then that number has fallen by about a fifth (18 percent).
In absolute numbers, chickens are slaughtered mainly in Belgium. In 2022, that will be 298 million units, 2 percent down from the previous year.

Last year, an average of 25 million chickens, 877,000 pigs, 63,000 cattle, 60,000 turkeys, 8,000 sheep, 3,000 ducks, 2,000 goats and 110 horses were slaughtered each month in Belgium last year.