MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Mar Qtr 2009	Dec Qtr 2009	Mar Qtr 2010
TREND ESTIMATES		'000	'000	'000
Number slaughtered
	Cattle (excl. calves)	1 977	1 882	1 833
	Calves	200	196	200
	Sheep	2 758	2 215	1 934
	Lambs	5 320	4 938	4 690
	Pigs	1 115	1 154	1 152
	Chickens	nya	nya	nya
nya not yet available

		Mar Qtr 2009	Dec Qtr 2009	Mar Qtr 2010
		tonnes	tonnes	tonnes
Meat produced
	Beef	530 848	510 784	497 306
	Veal	7 147	9 499	10 246
	Mutton	57 364	47 746	42 469
	Lamb	108 774	104 163	100 934
	Pig meat	80 070	83 296	83 492
	Chicken meat	nya	nya	nya
Wool receivals		90 652	88 912	89 900
nya not yet available

	Dec Qtr 2008	Sep Qtr 2009	Dec Qtr 2009
	ML	ML	ML
Whole milk intake by factories	2 357	2 258	2 203

MARCH KEY POINTS

• In the March quarter 2010, the trend estimate for cattle slaughterings decreased 3% to 1.8 million.
• The trend estimate for sheep slaughterings in the March quarter 2010 decreased 13% to 1.9 million.
• In the March quarter 2010, lamb slaughterings decreased 5% to 4.7 million.
• Total red meat production in the March quarter 2010 decreased 3% to 734 thousand tonnes.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2010	17 August 2010

INTRODUCTION

This publication presents statistics on livestock slaughterings (including chickens), meat production, whole milk intake by factories, market milk sales by factories, receivals of taxable wool by wool brokers and dealers, exports of live sheep and cattle and exports of fresh, chilled, frozen and processed meat. It also includes seasonally adjusted and trend totals for numbers slaughtered, meat produced, whole milk intake and wool receivals. More detailed information can be obtained by contacting the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) or by referring to the monthly ABS publication Livestock and Meat, Australia (cat. no. 7218.0.55.001).


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

Chicken data are not yet available for this issue and will be included in data cubes at a later date.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.