NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
February 2010	8 April 2010
March 2010	6 May 2010
April 2010	7 June 2010
May 2010	7 July 2010
June 2010	6 August 2010

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. 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 5846.


INQUIRIES

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


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


LIVESTOCK

• In January 2010, the trend estimate for cattle slaughterings continued to decrease, down to 609 thousand, a 7% decrease from January 2009.
• Sheep slaughterings were 716 thousand in January 2010, a decrease of 23% from January 2009.
• Lamb slaughterings fell in January 2010 to 1.6 million, an 11% decrease from January 2009.
• Pig slaughterings remained steady at 382 thousand in January 2010.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - January 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle (excl. calves)	497 180	615 013	609 024
Calves	25 521	64 567	66 983
Sheep	699 019	665 597	716 257
Lambs	1 415 707	1 548 053	1 585 050
Pigs	333 698	373 434	381 717

MEAT

• In January 2010, the trend estimate for beef production declined for the seventh consecutive month, down to 167 thousand tonnes.
• The trend estimate for mutton production in January 2010 continued to decline, down to 15 thousand tonnes.
• Lamb production decreased for the fifth consecutive month, down to 33 thousand tonnes in January 2010.
• Pig meat production remained steady in January 2010 at 27 thousand tonnes.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - January 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	136 190	170 792	167 060
Veal	1 950	3 177	3 299
Mutton	15 057	14 108	15 340
Lamb	29 997	32 276	33 021
Pig meat	23 862	27 006	27 346