Romania’s pork production decreased last year by almost 11 pct, from 383,485 tonnes of carcass in 2021, to 341,964 tonnes in 2022, according to the data of the National Institute of Statistics published on Friday, Agerpres informs.

In December 2022, a production of 68,497 tonnes of pork carcass was recorded, down 3 pct compared to the 70,577 tonnes recorded in December 2021.

Statistical data show that 3.845 million pigs were slaughtered last year, down from the previous year (4.2 million heads), and in the last month of 2022 – 754,000 heads, compared to 757,000 pigs in December 2021.

Regarding beef production, last year it totaled 82,618 tonnes, down by 3.2 pct compared to 2021, when a production of 85,351 tonnes of carcasses was recorded. Compared to December 2021, a slight decrease was recorded, from a quantity of 7,384 tonnes of cattle carcass, to 7,380 tonnes.

Last year, the number of slaughtered cattle reached 503,000 heads (523,000 heads in 2021), while in December 2022 45,000 heads were slaughtered, one thousand less compared to the similar month in 2021.

On the other hand, the production of sheep and goat meat increased last year by 7 pct, from 85,082 tonnes in 2021, to 91,114 tonnes of carcass in 2022, and in December an advance of 0.56 pct was recorded compared to the same month of 2021, up to 4,596 tonnes.

In 2022, 8.018 million sheep and goats were slaughtered, an increase compared to the 7.489 million heads in 2021. In the last month of last year, the number of sheep and goats slaughtered totaled 324,000 heads, 2,000 more than in December 2021 (322,000 heads).

According to INS data, Romania’s poultry meat production also increased last year, by over 6.3 pct, to 513,938 tonnes of carcass, from 483,257 tonnes in 2021 and by 12 pct in December 2022, when a quantity of 45,408 tonnes was reported.

Last year, 304.1 million birds were slaughtered, more than in 2021, when 287 million heads were recorded, while in December 2022, the number of birds slaughtered increased by almost 13 pct, compared to December 2021 , up to 26.94 million heads.

Agerpres