The producer price of slaughter pigs in Hungary decreased significantly at the beginning of 2026, while the pig population expanded slightly and live pig exports also increased. According to AKI PÁIR data, the producer price of domestically produced slaughter pigs was HUF 521/kg carcass warm weight (excluding VAT and transport) in February 2026, which represented a 23.7% drop compared to the average price a year earlier.
Herd and live pig trade: according to KSH data, 2.87 million pigs were kept in Hungary on 1 December 2025 (+2.4% year-on-year; +0.8% compared to June 2025). In January 2026, live pig exports increased by 18.4% to 3.5 thousand tons (main target markets: Romania and Moldova), while live pig imports increased by 3.6% to 4.6 thousand tons (main suppliers: Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic).
Foreign trade in pork: In January 2026, pork exports decreased by 7.1% to 12.4 thousand tons, and the export value decreased by 25.6%. In the same month, the volume of pork imports decreased by 19.2% to 10.3 thousand tons, and the value decreased by 34.7%; more than two-thirds of imports came from Germany, Spain and Poland.
International trends: the domestic price decline was in line with EU processes. According to preliminary data from the European Commission, the slaughterhouse entry price of commercial class “E” pigs in the EU was 1.48 euros/kg cold carcass weight in February 2026, which was 17.8% lower than a year earlier. The purchase prices of large EU players were also noticeably lower, the German contract price and the Tönnies price were 1.6 euros/kg in the period under review.
In the United States, on the other hand, according to USDA data, pork production decreased by 2.1% in January 2026, and exports decreased by 2.2% overall (exports to Mexico, however, increased). In Brazil, pork exports increased by 8.1% to 238,400 tons in January-February 2026, according to ABPA.
