The Spanish meat industry is by far the first place in the entire Spanish food and beverage industry, with a turnover of 31,032 million euros, 28.4% of the entire Spanish food sector.
Putting this dimension in context with Spanish industry as a whole, this turnover represents 2.57% of the total Spanish GDP, 16.79% of the GDP of the industrial branch and 5.14% of the total turnover of the entire Spanish industry. In addition, it should be added that the direct sectoral employment of our companies, 109,334 workers, already represents 29.7% of the total employment in the Spanish food industry.
These 31,000 million euros of turnover place the meat industry among the country’s major industrial sectors, after the energy supply industry and the automotive industry, and together with sectors such as the chemical or metallurgical industries.
The meat sector is made up of an industrial fabric of about 2,800 companies with activities of slaughterhouses, cutting plants and processing industries, located especially in rural areas and with a very important base of small and medium-sized companies with family shareholdings, while large business groups have also been consolidated, some of them leaders at European level.
In 2022, with a complex post-pandemic context, both nationally and internationally, the meat industry continued its export expansion of recent years, reaching a new annual record in value, 9,986 million euros, 9.6% more than the previous year. In volume, exports of meat and offal fell by 5% (3.03 million tonnes) and those of processed products rose by 5.7% (223,686 tonnes). With these figures, the foreign meat trade represented a very positive trade balance of 606%, a figure that highlights the importance of this sector for the economy and the overall progress of our country.
Spanish meat production | Year 2022
In 2022,pork Spain halted the sustained and brilliant growth it has experienced in the last decade, falling by 2.2% in its production compared to the previous year, to stand at 5 million tonnes, which represents in any case a very appreciable level taking into account the difficulty of the national and international markets (especially China, our main customer).
On the other hand, the bovine It once again starred in a record year, 738,000 tonnes and almost 3% growth over 2021. This is the highest point of production reached by beef, certifying the good work of the sector in all the links of this meat. And in the case of sheep/goats, with a sum of 127,460 tons, it fell by 2.3% compared to the volume of 2021, in another year of ups and downs.
Pork production is the leading Spanish meat activity, accounting for 85.3% of the ungulate meat produced in our country in 2022 (and 66.4% of all meat, if we include poultry and rabbit farming).
With this volume of production, which represents 4.8% of world production, Spain consolidated itself in recent years as the fourth largest producer of pork, but already in 2021 it moved to third place (surpassing Germany for the first time) and only behind China (which alone produces 34.3% of the world’s pork) and the USA (11.7% of world production) and ahead Germany (4.6%), Brazil (4.1%), Russia, Vietnam, France, Canada and Poland.
The European Union as a whole would be the world’s second largest producer, with 21.9% of the total, with Spain occupying the first European place in the volume of pork (21.%), ahead of Germany (21.2%), France (9.4%), Poland (8.4%), the Netherlands (7.3%), Denmark (7.4%) and Italy (5.7%).
The Beef It would occupy third place in volume (after poultry meat), with 9.7% of national meat production, although in this species Spain is further away from the top positions in world production, led by the US and Brazil. Spain accounts for 10.6% of European production, behind France (20.9%), Germany (15.8%) and Italy (11.0%).
In the case of sheep and goat meat, after the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, Spain is now the leading European producer, with 28.5% of the total and ahead of France (19.1%), Greece (15.0%) and Ireland (13.8%).
As for the production of processed meat, It should be noted that Spain, with 1.5 million tonnes per year, ranks fourth in the European Union, behind Germany, Italy and France. By product, cooked cold cuts stand out in volume and cured hams and shoulders (white and Iberian) stand out in value.
Consumption data for meat and meat products | Year 2022
Meat has followed the general trend of falling household consumption of all food and beverage products over the past year, according to the home food consumption report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), in the TAM October 2022 rolling year.
In this period, total food consumption (by volume) fell by 8.8%, while expenditure (value) fell by 2.5%. None of the food categories presented a positive balance in volume, and in value only oil, milk and dairy products, eggs and soft drinks were the only product families that ended the period analysed in the green, due to the increases experienced in sales prices.
In the case of meat, the volume of consumption fell by 12.4% in this year, to 1,848.9 million kg, while the value of these quantities purchased fell by 6.7%, representing, with 14,072.9 million euros, 19.13% of the total spent by Spaniards in their shopping basket for consumption at home.
The penetration rate for the category is almost 100%, the highest of animal products and only equalled in the entire food sector by bread.
These data from the ministry’s panel place per capita consumption at 34.84 kg, which leaves this indicator almost 13% below the 2021 record. This data will have to be completed with greater quality with that of consumption and expenditure outside the home, in order to obtain a complete x-ray of the annual evolution.
In the absence of data on extra-domestic consumption, these figures reflected above must be interpreted in the context of the earthquake that the entire period of the pandemic and confinement meant for purchasing and consumption behaviours, which obviously changed very significantly throughout 2020, as they were largely restricted to meals at home due to the closure or limitations of the hotel and restaurant industry. returning to the situation prior to the pandemic and with a certain “rebound” effect, due to the very generalized behavior of trying to recover the “normality” of outings and consumption outside the home.
Thus, after a 9.4% rise in household consumption in 2020, in 2021 there was a decrease of 10.2%, but that would be only -0.8% compared to 2019.
In any case, with the available data, all categories of meats decrease in the household. Within the fresh meat segment, the decline in sheep/goat purchases is very significant (-24.7%), followed by beef (-18.1%) and rabbit (-16.4%). On the other hand, fresh chicken (-13.8%) and pork (-10.0%) showed the smallest decreases.
According to these data from the ministry, frozen meat lost 19.2% of the volume while processed meats were the family of products that presented the least negative evolution, falling by -8.6%.
Meat Foreign Trade | Year 2022
For years, the Spanish meat industry has been gaining positions in the international market of meat and meat products, consolidating its role as a leading exporting power, with a commercial presence in numerous markets around the world.
The 2022 financial year marked a differential point in this export development of recent years, as pork lost positions in its exported volumes (but grew in value thanks to better prices), while beef continued to grow in its foreign sales, as did our exports of processed products.
In 2022, exports from our industries were 9,986 million euros, 9.6% more than the previous year
With this, in 2022 the exports of our industries were 9,986 million euros, 9.6% more than the previous year, bringing the positive sign of the sector’s trade balance to 606%, and touching the bar of 10,000 million which will surely be overcome when the still provisional data for the year and estimated for the preparation of this report are consolidated. The total volume exported was 3.03 million tonnes of meat and offal (5% less than in 2021) and 223,686 tonnes of processed products (5.7% higher than the previous year).
The sector porcine It exported 2,077,932 tonnes of pork, worth 5,774 million euros, representing a 6.1% decrease in volume and a 5% increase in sales. The production and demand situation in China, due to the African swine fever that has affected the country’s pig sector, has had a decisive influence on the most distorted evolution of Spanish exporting companies.
With the data available for the first eleven months of the year, the markets Non-EU exports continued to develop as the main destination for exports of pork meat, offal and fat, accounting for 57.0% of foreign sales, but losing some steam compared to the 65.7% in 2021, as a result of the significant decrease of 18.1% in the volume exported. All in all, China was once again the country that imported the most Spanish pork, representing 25% of total exports, but losing almost 50% of the volume shipped in 2021 and 44% in value. In total, the Asian giant acquired pork meat, offal and fat worth 1,562 million euros.
In the case of beef, the balance of exports was particularly positive in terms of value for another year, with an estimated figure of 1,290 million euros and a 38% growth compared to the previous year. In terms of volume, the evolution was 5.7%. In this species, sales to third countries are still in the take-off phase, accounting for 9.7% of turnover and 11.2% of tonnes.
In terms of sheep, 50,000 tonnes of meat and 4,500 tonnes of offal were exported, with an estimated value of 318 million euros, 8% higher than what was achieved in 2021. Almost three-quarters of the value of these exports (73.3%) continue to correspond to sales in the European Union, mainly France and Italy, together with excellent progress in non-EU markets such as Israel, Qatar and the United Kingdom.
Finally, in processed products, exports were 223,686 tonnes (+5.7%) and 1,513 million euros (+17.5%), a very positive evolution in which there is still a long way to go for our higher quality products and therefore differentials and higher added value. Sales to European countries represent 64.4% of the value and 71.2% of total exports, with France leading the way, with a share of 24% of our exports, followed by Germany (9.9%) and the United Kingdom (9.3%), now as a non-EU market.
The Spanish market for meat products | Year 2022
Spain is one of the countries with the richest tradition in the production and consumption of the most varied sausages and hams. The diversity of our charcuterie production, which extends to all corners of the country, is part of our cultural and gastronomic heritage, and is appreciated inside and outside our borders.
By type of product, as can be seen in the attached graphs, the preferences of the Spanish consumer are headed by cured, serrano and Iberian hams, which are the kings of Spanish meat production. Serrano hams from white-coated pigs and Iberian pig hams represent almost a third (31.7%) of the value of products marketed in self-service and specialised channels.
In terms of volume, stews (hams, sausages) occupy the first position in the basket ahead of cured hams, which are on a par with turkey cold cuts, which have had a great development in the market in recent years.
Livestock Censuses and Primary Production | Year 2022
Since 2015, the year in which Spain’s total pig census surpassed that of Germany for the first time, making our country the first in Europe in terms of the number of animals in production (and third in the world), this leadership has only strengthened.
Out of a total EU census of 145.87 million animals in December 2021, Spain has a share of 23.6% (22.4% in 2020), ahead of Germany (16.2%) and followed by Denmark (9.0%), France (8.9%), the Netherlands (7.5%) and Poland (7.0%).
This situation is reflected in the 2022 national census, in which the total number of animals registered in the month of November exceeded 34 million, with a decrease of 1.4% compared to the census of the same month in 2021, with a general stagnation in the different categories (piglets, fattening and breeders).
Spain’s pig production sector contributed a value of 8,854.7 million euros to the final production of agriculture in 2021, representing 15.9% of Final Agricultural Production and 42.5% of Final Livestock Production. The number of farms was 87,097 in March 2022 (99,561 in 2007), of which 74.1% correspond to the intensive model (77.86% in 2021).
In 2022, the price of live pork (1.527 euros average price) recorded by Mercolleida, represented a historic increase of 21.98% compared to the previous year , in which the price on the reference market had registered a fall of -5.76% compared to 2020.
Along these lines, the average price for 2022 for pig carcasses stood at 1.994 euros, which represents a spectacular increase of 20.9% compared to the previous year, in line with the price of live carcass.
With regard to cattle, the total census registered in May 2021, 6,922,951 animals, grew by 3.1% compared to the same month in 2020, the year in which the census practically did not move compared to 2019 (-0.2%).
The Spanish beef production sector contributed a value of 3,196 million euros to the final production of agriculture in 2021, which represents 5.7% of the Final Agricultural Production and 15.3% of the Final Livestock Production. The number of farms on 1 January 2022 was 144,540 (145,112 in 2021, 144,510 in 2020, 145,566 in 2019 and 206,509 in 2007), and of these, 61.1% correspond to meat production and 14.6% to fattening farms (the rest are dairy farms, mixed, pre-fattening, rearing and others).
In ANICE’s 2022 Activity Report, you can access other data of interest in the sector. We invite you to download it.
