UK pig throughputs and pigmeat production continue to trend above year-earlier levels, while the number of sows being sent for slaughter appears to be increasing as the year goes on.
August UK clean pig slaughterings were up 2.2% on August 2025 at 844,000 head, while pigmeat production was up 3.8% at 79,000 tonnes, according to Defra’s latest monthly estimates.
The average weekly kill in August, at 191,000 head, was up from 186,000 head in August 2025, but down from 205,000 head in July 2026.
This means that, over the first eight months of the year, UK slaughterings were up by 2.9% to just over 7 million head.
However, there is considerable regional variation within this trend. Clean pig slaughterings in England, at 5.6m head, were 4.1% higher year on year, while throughput in Scotland was 5.6% up, at 158,000 head. However, clean pig slaughterings in Northern Ireland, at 1.27m head, were 2.1% down on the first eight months of 2025, according to AHDB’s summary of the Defra data.
Pigmeat production, at 670,000 tonnes is up 4.9% year on year in the year to August, with significantly higher carcase weights, which averaged just below 90kg in August, also driving the higher volumes.
Sow slaughterings
August sow and boar slaughterings, at 18,000 head, were 21% up year on year, as producers trim their herds in response to the oversupply and contract terminations that have disrupted the market this year.
Over the first eight months of the year, sow and boar slaughterings were up 9.7% year on year to 143,000 head. Again there was significant regional variation, with numbers in England up up 5.8% to 126,000 head and Scotland up a massive 51% to 17,000 head. There was no figure for Northern Ireland.