Where does the pork produced in France end up? In 2021, household purchase panels covered only a third of the availability for consumption estimated by supply balance: the proliferation of processed products and the diversity of distribution channels had made the destination of pork raw materials difficult to trace. This study, carried out from 2022 to 2025 by IFIP (the French pork institute) with the support of TerriFlux, maps all the material flows of the French pork supply chain for the year 2021: from slaughter to final consumption, through cutting, processing and distribution, including co-products, offal, fats and foreign trade.
An overall view traces the fate of the roughly 2.9 million tonnes of live pigs slaughtered in 2021 (23.3 million animals) through to the final consumption of meat and charcuterie — around 23 kg per inhabitant per year. Two detailed views zoom in on the processing and preserving of meat (charcuterie and curing) and on ready meals and delicatessen products. The diagrams highlight the role of exports (offal and cuts little valued in France) and imports (deboned cuts, processed products), as well as the split between at-home consumption and food service.
The study applies the AF Filières method: framing data, definition of the supply-chain structure and its nomenclature, inventory and assessment of statistical sources (Insee, consumer panels, customs data, Agreste, Uniporc…), enrichment through surveys of stakeholders at every stage, then data reconciliation through optimisation under mass-balance constraints and representation as Sankey diagrams. The model brings together around 1,400 data points for 3,400 flows.
Study carried out by IFIP (Institut du porc) with TerriFlux, under a FranceAgriMer contract co-funded by the inter-branch organisation INAPORC.