NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
March 2011	18 May 2011
April 2011	14 June 2011
May 2011	8 July 2011

INTRODUCTION

This publication presents statistics on livestock slaughterings and meat production. These statistics are based on a monthly collection from abattoirs and other major slaughtering establishments and include estimates of animals slaughtered by country butchers and other small slaughtering establishments. More detailed information on this series can be obtained by referring to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly publication, Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no.7215.0).

Additional time series spreadsheets containing state/territory and national data are available from the Downloads tab for this publication. These spreadsheets contain original, seasonally adjusted and trend estimates for slaughtering and meat production for bulls, bullocks and steers, cows and heifers, cattle (excluding calves), calves, sheep, lambs and pigs.

The ABS welcomes any comments from readers regarding the usefulness, range and quality of the statistics presented in this publication. Comments can be forwarded to: The Environment and Agriculture Business Statistics Centre, Australian Bureau of Statistics, GPO Box 66, Hobart TAS 7001. Alternatively email <agriculture.statistics@abs.gov.au> or phone (03) 6222 5939.


EFFECT OF QUEENSLAND FLOODS

Flooding in Queensland began in late December 2010. Flooding has had a small impact on response rates with 97% achieved against a target of 100%. This has had a minor impact on the estimates.


INQUIRIES

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


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


LIVESTOCK

• The trend estimate for cattle slaughterings in February 2011 rose 1% from January 2011 to 619 thousand.
• Calf slaughterings in February 2011 rose 4% to 72 thousand compared to January 2011 and fell 14% compared to February 2010.
• In February 2011, the trend estimate for sheep slaughterings fell 3% to 438 thousand from January 2011 and decreased 24% compared to February 2010.
• Lamb slaughterings fell 1% to 1.5 million in February 2011 compared to January 2011.
• The trend estimate for pig slaughterings in February 2011 was little changed from January 2011 at 379 thousand.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - February 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle(a)	647 027	671 475	619 303
Calves	35 429	73 687	71 687
Sheep	505 540	444 505	437 798
Lambs	1 362 512	1 424 395	1 456 357
Pigs	347 800	381 088	379 460
(a) Excludes calves

MEAT

• In February 2011, the trend estimate for beef production rose 1% to 177 thousand tonnes compared to January 2011.
• Veal production rose 5% to 5 thousand tonnes in February 2011 compared to January 2011.
• In February 2011, the production of mutton decreased to 10 thousand tonnes, a fall of 3% from January 2011 and a fall of 21% from February 2010.
• Lamb production was little changed in February 2011 at 32 thousand tonnes compared to January 2011.
• In February 2011, the trend estimate for production of pig meat remained steady at 28 thousand tonnes compared to January 2011.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - February 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	187 347	192 522	176 986
Veal	3 390	4 693	4 557
Mutton	11 119	10 073	10 013
Lamb	30 378	31 055	31 648
Pig meat	25 290	28 115	27 951