The UK sow herd lost 22,000 pigs over the past year amid calls for more government action to prevent a 'serious and permanent contraction' of the sector.
Defra’s December 2021 pig survey data shows the female breeding herd stood at 295,000, compared with 317,000 in December 2020 and 313,000 in June 2021, representing a steep 7% year-on-year decline.
The reduction was driven by a 14% decline in the number of sows in pig to just 201,000, down from 233,000 in December 2020.
The National Pig Association (NPA) said it expected a further contraction in the first half of this year, as for many producers the situation was "simply not sustainable".
In contrast, the number of ‘other sows’, including dry sows being kept for further breeding, increased from 41,000 at the end of 2020 to 51,000.
The NPA said this suggested that in some cases where sow numbers were not being reduced, producers were holding back on breeding.
It comes as the sector continues to endure with the ongoing backlog of pigs on farms caused by shortages of butchers in pork plants, combined with record feed costs and falling pig prices.
For the first half of 2021, pig producers were losing an average of £25/pig, a figure likely to have grown in the final quarter, according to the NPA.
The trade body said it was aware of a number of produces that had left the industry or cut down on sow numbers as a result of the ongoing situation.
NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said: “These worrying figures highlight what we have been saying about the need for action from government and the supply chain to prevent a serious and permanent contraction of the UK pig industry."
She warned that the package of measures announce by the government in October 2021 had delivered minimal benefits so far.
"We need focused support from government and measures that will genuinely help to reduce the backlog," Ms Davies added.
"We also need more urgency from processors and retailers in resolving the crisis the pig sector faces and, above all fairness in the supply chain, so producers are not bearing the full brunt of all this.
“We continue to request that Defra Secretary George Eustice convenes a roundtable of producers, producers and retailers to try and thrash out solutions before it’s too late for the British pig sector.”
