The effects of swine fever: Catalan farmers lose 19.62 euros per live pig
The sector registers a negative economic margin for the first time in four years and figures at €265M the losses due to the PPA
BarcelonaAfrican swine fever (ASF) has severely harmed the primary sector. Unió de Pagesos (UP) warned this Wednesday that Catalan pig farmers registered, during the first half of this year, losses of 16 euro cents per kilogram for each pig they raise. This means that sector professionals lose an average of 19.62 euros per live animal, a drop of 156% compared to the same period last year. The agricultural organization, which presented these figures at a press conference in Lleida, states that the sector has a negative economic margin for the first time in four years, and attributes these losses mainly to the effect of the appearance of African swine fever (ASF) at the end of last year.
UP warns that, seven months later, this disease affecting pigs continues to be present. So far, it has caused a 30.2% decrease in the price at the Mercolleida market, which stands at an average of €1.18/kg in this first semester, compared to a production cost of €1.34/kg. This results in the negative economic margin.
Together with Unió d’Unions, the union has simulated the evolution of sector prices in a hypothetical ASF-free scenario. This simulation has highlighted that, despite the expected downward trend in prices in recent years due to structural reasons, since the week the first outbreak was declared, the selling price has been well below expectations and production costs. This would have caused losses for pig farming that the union estimates at around 265 million euros in Catalonia and about 1 billion euros in the whole of Spain in the seven months from the start of the outbreak until last June.
Unió de Pagesos also highlighted that the average price of live pigs at Mercolleida has been 1.18 euros per kilo, 30.2% below the 2025 average during the same period. It also recalled that the ASF outbreak detected last December in Catalonia caused this year to start with prices of 1.040 euros per kilo at the Lleida market, a trend that remained stable until mid-February. From that moment on, it began to rebound until it reached 1.310 euros last June. These are prices similar to those paid before the outbreak of African swine fever, but still below production costs.
The agricultural organization has also explained that this effect is transferred to exports with a relocation of markets and a decrease in value. Despite the loss of free ASF country status, state pig sector exports have grown in volume (0.8%), although they have fallen in value (3.4% less) compared to last year and stand at 2.7 million tons and 8,486.42 million euros. In the first three months of the year, there has been a 1.6% increase in volume, as well as a 14.8% decrease in value and a 16.2% decrease in unit price, compared to the previous year.
23 farms less
Unió de Pagesos highlights that there are currently 5,231 pig farms in Catalonia, 23 fewer than at the end of 2025. Among this volume of facilities, fattening farms continue to be the majority (73.1%), followed at a distance by breeding or sow farms (13.8%) and piglet transition farms (8%).
80.3% of farms operate under the integration regime, especially in the case of fattening farms. In this same regard, Unió de Pagesos has recalled that currently 215 pig integration companies operate in Catalonia, 15 of which manage half of the farms and 5 of which represent 30% of production.