Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2020
266. Deputy Joe O'Brien asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of pigs that have been exported live to date in 2020; the age of the majority of pigs, that is, over 75%, that were exported live; the countries to which they were exported; the number by each country; and the reason pigs are being exported live. [27413/20]
View answerFigures taken from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES), which is the EU-wide online management tool for all sanitary requirements on intra-EU trade and importation of animals, semen and embryo, food, feed and plants, show that as of mid-September, Ireland has exported a total of just over 370,000 live pigs. The overwhelming majority of these have gone to Northern Ireland, with small numbers also having been exported to Britain, Spain and Italy. In each case, the vast majority of these pigs were exported for the purposes of slaughter, with smaller numbers designated as being for the purposes of production or breeding, as detailed in the following table.
TRACES does not provide a breakdown by age of livestock at the time of export.
