A strategic review of Scotland's pig industry concludes that it needs a breeding herd of 45,000 sows to provide 20,000 finished pigs per week, the level required for viability.

The report follows the publication of the June census results on Wednesday, which revealed that sow numbers in Scotland are around the 38,500 mark and on a downward trend.

The national breeding pig herd has nearly halved in size in the past decade.

Pig production represents a small yet important part of Scottish agriculture. Although subject to data limitation and some assumptions, multiplier analysis suggests its contributions are of the order of £130m for output and 1400 for employment.

A vibrant pig sector is a major outlet for feed grain from the arable sector, while processing that grain maintains throughput at feed mills help to keep down the cost of other livestock feed.

The wide-ranging report has been co-ordinated by red meat promotion and development body Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) as part of a series of initiatives commissioned and funded by the Scottish Government to support Scottish red meat businesses.

QMS chairman Donald Biggar said: "Five key areas have been addressed in the review - economics, processing facilities, health status, environment and farm performance. Twelve steps have been identified to help stem the decline and get the industry on a better financial footing."

Richard Lochhead, Secretary for Rural Affairs, said: "The Scottish Government is very aware of the difficult situation faced by the pig sector. We are actively working with the industry, including major new player Vion (the Dutch co-op which recently took over Grampian Country Foods), to decide how to use most effectively the unallocated £700,000 from the package of support I announced for the pig sector last month."

A copy of the full report is available at www.qmscotland.co.uk