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Written question asked by Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party) on Tuesday, 29 June 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 July 2021. It was answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 July 2021 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Animals: Exports

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) birds, (b) pigs, (c) wild boar, (d) bulls and (e) cows have been exported from the UK for the purposes of (i) breeding, (ii) fattening and (iii) slaughter in each of the last five years.

Answer

This response has been compiled by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) using data provided by third parties, and as such, is reliant on the providers for the accuracy of the information.

The following has been extracted from TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System). TRACES is a European Commission system employed by EU member states to facilitate and record animal/animal product movements into and throughout the EU.

Below is the number of live animals exported to the EU from 2016:

Reason for export

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Bull/Cow

Breeding

6,143

4,184

5,632

6,042

2,407

Production

24,974

28,485

25,234

15,597

6,128

Slaughter

10,318

9,616

8,672

4,673

3,551

Wild Boar

Breeding

0

3

0

0

0

Pigs

Breeding

1,763

3,055

3,370

6,056

12,919

Production

2

125

1

418

Slaughter

8,910

8,056

13,081

14,969

15,446

Birds, other than poultry

Breeding

79

51

3

49

110,548

Slaughter

0

750

0

0

0

Poultry

Breeding

9,022,269

11,059,627

9,981,653

8,397,890

9,446,174

Slaughter

3,551,225

4,875,861

4,349,451

4,865,515

4,257,736

Exports to the rest of the world require an Export Health Certificate (EHC). APHA’s data retention period for export certification is three years. Subsequently, APHA does not hold records for export consignments carried out before 2018.

The below information shows the number of EHCs issued. The APHA records do not hold the number of animals exported; numerous animals can travel on one EHC. Many of the EHCs agreed with countries are for breeding, fattening or production combined on one document so this data cannot be split by export reason. The EHCs are based on commodities, and as such cannot be segmented into specific species.

Reason for export

2018

2019

2020

Cattle

Breeding/Fattening/Production

568

553

696

Slaughter

210

201

79

Pigs

Breeding/Fattening/Production

21

28

35

Slaughter

8

282

181

Poultry

Breeding/Fattening/Production

0

0

10

Slaughter

0

0

0

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
24345
Session
2021-22
Subjects
Animals Animal breeding Exports Slaughterhouses
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk