Prices of both light and heavy lambs have also increased

By: STA Date: 2025. 04. 01. 09:30

According to the short-term forecast of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global sheepmeat production was 17 million tonnes in 2024, unchanged from the previous year. Sheepmeat accounted for 4.6 percent of world meat production. More than 80 percent of world sheepmeat production came from Asian and African countries, with China being the largest exporter (5.2 million tonnes).

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to data from the European Commission, the European Union’s imports of sheep and goats (live animals and meat) were 167,400 tonnes in 2024, an increase of 1.7 percent compared to the previous year. The largest suppliers were the United Kingdom and New Zealand with a 93 percent share. The volume of sheep and goat meat and live animals sold on the international market (87.1 thousand tonnes) decreased by 15 percent in 2024. The largest target markets were Morocco (18.5 percent share), Jordan (17 percent) and the United Kingdom (17 percent). The volume delivered to Jordan decreased by 20 percent and to the United Kingdom by 22 percent, while exports to Morocco more than doubled.

According to KSH data, Hungary’s sheep population was 846.8 thousand on December 1, 2024, a decrease of 6.6 percent compared to December 2023

The number of ewes changed by 2.9 percent to 673.7 thousand in the same comparison. The volume of Hungary’s live lamb exports increased by 1 percent (to 10.5 thousand tonnes) and their value by 15.7 percent (to 21 billion forints) in 2024 compared to the previous year. Italy, which accounts for 61 percent of exports, imported 11.6 percent fewer lambs. According to AKI PÁIR data, the average price of both light and heavy lamb in Hungary for the period of 1–12 weeks of 2025 increased by 16 percent compared to a year earlier, the former to 2,246 forints/kilogram, the latter to 2,131 forints/kilogram.

AKI PÁIR