NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
July 2011	2 September 2011
August 2011	6 October 2011
September 2011	8 November 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.


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 June 2011 increased by 1% to 610 thousand compared to May 2011.
• Calf slaughterings in June 2011 fell by 2% to 56 thousand compared to May 2011 and fell 17% compared to June 2010.
• In June 2011, the trend estimate for sheep slaughterings fell 3% to 349 thousand from May 2011 and decreased 30% compared to June 2010.
• Lamb slaughterings in June 2011 increased by 1% to 1.5 million compared to May 2011.
• The trend estimate for pig slaughterings in June 2011 remained steady at 390 thousand compared to May 2011.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia, June 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle(a)	651 525	621 674	609 623
Calves	64 567	56 211	56 443
Sheep	254 527	352 050	348 926
Lambs	1 469 400	1 505 826	1 465 571
Pigs	413 921	385 543	389 791
(a) Excludes calves

MEAT

• In June 2011, the trend estimate for beef production increased by 1% to 175 thousand tonnes compared to May 2011.
• Veal production in June 2011 fell by 2% to 4 thousand tonnes compared to May 2011.
• In June 2011, the production of mutton decreased to 8 thousand tonnes, a fall of 3% from May 2011 and a fall of 28% from June 2010.
• Lamb production in June 2011 increased by 2% to 33 thousand tonnes compared to May 2011.
• In June 2011, the trend estimate for production of pig meat increased by 1% to 29 thousand tonnes compared to May 2011.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia, June 2011
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	186 308	179 600	174 888
Veal	4 179	3 808	3 681
Mutton	5 939	8 401	8 228
Lamb	33 440	34 423	33 255
Pig meat	31 441	28 581	28 863