13% drop in UK pork imports
Last year, the UK imported 320,100 tonnes of pork, down 13% from the volumes reported in 2020. In the last month of the year, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland imported 13% fewer tonnes of pork than in November, and 20% less than in the same period of the previous year, registering a total of 27,500 imported tons, according to AHDB. Among products, 15,200 tonnes of boneless cuts were imported in December compared to 11,500 tonnes of bone-in cuts. Both boneless and bone-in imports were lower than in November (16,500 tonnes boneless and 14,200 tonnes bone-in), registering drops of 8% and 20%, respectively. Compared to 2020, the annual total imported boneless pork increased by 1% and the total amount of bone-in pork decreased by 27%.
"This suggests that we are making use of the capacity of overseas butchers to source the necessary cuts of pork for the UK market, in a bid to lessen the workload on butchers at home," AHDB commented in a note.
Exports were also in decline, dropping by 25% in 2021. The United Kingdom sent 192,700 tonnes abroad in 2021, 25% less than in 2020 (258,400 tonnes). As for the month of December, 16,900 tonnes of pork were exported, 1.5% more than in November, but 24% less than in the same month of 2020. This strong decrease in exports has been caused by the change in the Chinese market. “China has been importing less pork since it managed to rebuild its own pig herd and this has had a ripple effect on world trade. UK pork exports to China were 6,600 tonnes in December 2021, almost half the amount from the same period a year earlier (11,400 tonnes). Annual UK pork exports to the EU were also down 40% year-on-year as Europe is awash in pork due in part to its own reduced trade with China," AHDB informed.
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