China, the US, Brazil and the 15 countries of the European Union consume over 80 per cent of the world's pork between them. Indeed, over the past ten years, increasing affluence in the less well off nations (particularly in China) has seen a doubling in per capita consumption of pork.
Elsevier Food International, Vol. 5, Number 2, May 2002

From the graph opposite, we can see that - of the countries covered - Spain has the highest consumption of pork per head, closely followed by Denmark, Austria and Germany. EU countries are also big exporters of pork, with Denmark sending frozen pigmeat to Japan and South Korea. Germany, it seems, can't produce enough pigmeat to satisfy its inhabitants: its a major importer within the EU. Brazil (with a per capita consumption of 11) is the only country in South America with significant exports of pork, supplying Hong Kong, Argentina and Uruguay. Imports of pig meat into Brazil, however, are still negligible. Canada, which has a consumption of 26.9, is the largest exporter of pigmeat in North America, selling mainly to the US and to a lesser extent, Japan.