In the first half of the year, 23.9 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses were slaughtered in the country, as well as 346.1 million chickens, turkeys and ducks.
Growth in pig slaughter
During this period, 22.1 million pigs were slaughtered, which is 0.7% (plus 156,900 heads) more than last year. At the same time, 98.2% of the total number — 21.7 million pigs — were of German origin. This is 2.3% (plus 486,600 heads) more than last year. The number of imported pigs, on the contrary, fell sharply by 44.8% (minus 329,700 heads) to 406,000, or 1.8% of the total number.
Pork production in the first half of the year increased by 1.8% (plus 38.1 thousand tonnes) and reached 2.1 million tonnes.
Significant decline in beef production
Unlike pork, there was less beef in the country. 1.4 million head of cattle were slaughtered, which is 7.9% (minus 117.3 thousand) less than last year. Beef production volumes decreased by 7.2% (minus 36.1 thousand tonnes) and amounted to 462.2 thousand tonnes. The average slaughter weight of cattle increased slightly to 339.6 kg (+2.5 kg compared to last year's figure).
Poultry meat production remained virtually unchanged
In the first half of the year, 346.1 million birds of various species were slaughtered. Although their number increased by 0.6%, poultry meat production amounted to 779.9 thousand tonnes — 0.1% (minus 790 tonnes) less than last year.
Meat production structure
Pork traditionally accounts for the largest share of commercial meat production in Germany — in the first half of 2025, it accounted for 63.2%. Poultry meat ranks second (23.0%), followed by beef (13.6%). Sheep, goat and horse meat together accounted for only about 0.3% of the total volume.
PigUA.info based on materials from euromeatnews.com