The latest production figures released from Defra show that the UK produced 79,400 tonnes of pig meat in January, according to an AHDB market report from analyst Isabelle Shohet. This is down 500 tonnes from December 2022, and down 7% (6,100 tonnes) from volumes seen at the same time last year. The production of pig meat in January 2023 is the lowest monthly figure since January 2021, sitting 4% (-3,400 tonnes) behind the 5-year average for the month.

The decline in production has been driven by reduced slaughterings. Clean pig kill for January stood at 863,700 head, down 21,900 head from December 2022 and 9,100 head behind numbers seen this time last year. Following the same pattern as production volumes, this is the lowest monthly number of clean pigs slaughtered since January 2021.

Average carcase weights for January were up 1.6kg from December at 88.9kg, sitting 0.7kg above the 5-year average. However, year on year carcase weights have fallen by 5.4kg as the backlog of pigs seen in early 2022 has cleared.