Known as the EU-28, the countries exported approximately 5% less pork this January than in January 2014, before the Russian ban on EU imports was introduced.

Although unit values remained stable, the decrease in volume resulted in a fall in overall income from fresh and frozen pork exports to €287 million.

Fresh and frozen pork

China was the biggest market for exports of fresh and frozen pork, taking 27% of deliveries. This was followed by South Korea and Japan at 22% and 21% respectively.

The Phillipines, South Korea, Australia and the United States were the only countries to increase the volume of their pork imports in January 2015, relative to volumes imported in January 2014.

Offal

In terms of offal, overall exports from the EU were 6% lower than last year.

China was again the largest market, taking in 41.5% of exports, a 5% increase on last year.

The Philippines and South Korea also received more, while Hong Kong reported a 42% reduction. This goes some way to dealing with the issues of carcase balance, as the EU consumer shows a preference for prime cuts and the East for offal.