Pig population grows

The pig population in December amounted to 76,900, an increase of 4.4 per cent, or 3,217 pigs, over the same period in 2006.

A total of 152 pig farms were recorded in this year's survey, the National Statistics Office said.

Whereas in 2006, 27.3 per cent of all holdings had between 200 and 399 heads, the share of medium-sized pig holdings fell to 23.7 per cent in 2007.

On the other hand, the share of small pig holdings (one to 199 pigs) registered a marginal decline from 33.7 per cent in 2006 to 32.9 per cent in 2007. In addition, large pig holdings increased by 10 per cent.

Comments

Joe Borg (3 weeks, 4 days ago)

A survey by NSO on Meat production for the same period as this report shows that Livestock slaughtering for pigs at licensed slaughterhouses in Malta has declined for the 3rd consecutive year by 9.0%, that is from 108,210 in 2005 to 103,562 in 2006 ( -4648) and to 94,290 in 2007. ( -9272)
This leads to the increase in the pig population and reflects that the producers have not yet learned to adjust their capacities according to demand after 3 years.
Further more, over capacity leads to unnecessary expenses.
On a positive note, this reflects that the consumer is learning to eat better as pork is renowed for the high concentration of satuarated fats and consume healthier products such as chicken and rabbit.