MARCH AGAINST HORSE SLAUGHTER — Here is a summary of the global horse slaughter and horse meat numbers and statistics published by Jane Allin.
• The horse slaughter and horse meat industry is widespread from a global perspective.
• According to the most recent FAO data from 2013 almost 4.7 million horses were slaughtered worldwide that year with a staggering 1.6 billion lb. of horse meat produced.
• By far the largest producer of horse meat is Asia (49%) followed by the Americas (24%). Similarly the largest number of horses slaughtered can be attributed to Asia (55%) and again followed by the Americas (24%).
• In the case of the Americas keep in mind that although horse slaughter does not, for the most part, occur on U.S. soil, horses do enter the slaughter pipeline and end up at abattoirs in both Mexico and Canada.
• According to the Animal Welfare Institute 102,554 horses were shipped from the U.S. to Mexico for slaughter and 42,102 to Canada in 2013 comprising a total of 144,656.
• By far the largest producer of horse meat is China representing about 27% of the total (~420 million lb.), followed by Kazakhstan (12.5%), Mexico (9.2%), Russia (7.4%) and Mongolia and Argentina both at 4.3% rounding out the top six countries. The top ten horse meat producing countries represent 77% of the total global horse meat production.
• China again tops the list of countries with the most number of horses slaughtered (34% of the total) representing ~ 1.6 million horses on an annual basis. China is followed by Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Mongolia which mirrors the horse meat producing country list.
• The top ten countries in terms of horse slaughter numbers (head) make up 80% of the total horses slaughtered globally.
• Horse meat exports on a global basis totaled about 260 million lb. or 16% of the total amount of horse meat produced worldwide. The leading exporting countries were; Belgium (16.8%), Argentina (14.0%), Canada (12.5%), Mexico (12.3%) and Poland (9.5%).
• Horse meat imports were highest in Italy (22.2%), Belgium (21.3%), Russia (14.4%) and France (14.3%) – nations well known to consume horse meat on a regular basis. The top ten importers made up a total of about 93% of all horse meat imported worldwide.
• Exports and imports both represent about 16% of the total horse meat produced in the world which indicates that the greater majority of horse meat produced is consumed within the country of origin.
• Horse slaughter and horse meat trade across the globe is a multi-million dollar industry – exports are estimated to be worth almost a half billion USD ($478,729,000); imports closely mirrors this amount coming in at $491,588,000.
© The Horse Fund
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Beauty (pictured) was a ‘throwaway’, a horse on a slaughter-bound feedlot that nobody wanted. Well, I wanted her! says the lady who rescued her.
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