Spain's meat industry is moving forward
The Spanish meat industry is in fourth place of all industrial sectors in the country, only behind the automobile industry, the oil and fuel industry or energy supply, and next to sectors like the chemical or metallurgical industries, according to ANICE data.
Furthermore, it should be noted that direct sector employment, derived from meat companies, is 99,854 workers, who carry out their activity mainly in rural areas; representing 25.2% of the total occupation of the Spanish food industry.
The meat sector is made up of an industrial fabric of some 2,800 companies, including slaughterhouses, cutting plants and processed industries, with a very important base of small and medium-sized family-owned companies, including large business groups, some of them are leaders on a European scale.
Thanks to the role of the meat industry, made up mainly of SMEs located in unpopulated areas, it is possible to maintain economic activity in territories where few other industries can do so, managing to avoid depopulation, helping to generate wealth, territorial cohesion and employment. In addition, the industry, favoring sustainability, helps to consolidate the socio-economic fabric of these areas, becoming, as part of the meat value chain, the main economic engine in rural areas and in depopulated Spain.
Meat production in Spain reached a record high in 2020, registering a total of 7.6 million tonnes of meat, representing an increase of 5.1% compared to 2019, according to data from the slaughter survey of cattle from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).
Of the total production, pork continues to be the main category in 2020, with a total of 5,023,534 tonnes, representing a growth of 8.2% compared to 2019, which represents more than 65% of total production of meat.
Spain has become the fourth-largest producer of pork, with 4.4% of world production, and the European Union considered as a whole is the second-largest producer in the world, with 22.7% of the total.
On the contrary, the production of the beef sector fell by 2.5% compared to 2019, reaching 677,296 tonnes produced. Beef occupies third place in volume, with 8.9% of national meat production, although internationally, in this species Spain is farthest from the top positions in world production, led by the United States and Brazil.
For their part, sheep and goats reached 124,467 tons, although their production decreased by 5.5% compared to the volume of 2019. While, at the European level, after the United Kingdom left the European Union, Spain has been become the leading European producer of sheep and goat meat, with 15.6% of the total and ahead of France (11.2%), Greece (9.2%) and Ireland (8.4%).
Finally, with regard to the production of processed meat, Spain is in fourth place in the European Union with more than 1.4 million tons per year, only behind Germany, Italy and France.
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