NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
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 March 2010, the trend estimate for cattle slaughterings increased for the first time since June 2009, up to 616 thousand.
• The trend estimate for sheep slaughterings continued to fall in March 2010, down to 621 thousand, a decrease of 33% from March 2009.
• The trend estimate for lamb slaughterings fell again in March 2010 to 1.5 million, a 14% decrease from March 2009.
• Pig slaughterings in March 2010 remained steady at 376 thousand.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - March 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle (excl. calves)	703 017	620 707	615 896
Calves	52 627	73 131	73 675
Sheep	662 286	571 265	621 434
Lambs	1 680 550	1 538 627	1 518 901
Pigs	419 556	374 078	375 974

MEAT

• In March 2010, the trend estimate for beef production increased, up to 168 thousand tonnes, following 8 consecutive months of decline.
• The trend estimate for mutton production in March 2010 continued to decline, down to 13 thousand tonnes, a decrease of 32% from March 2009.
• The trend estimate for lamb production in March 2010 decreased for the seventh consecutive month, down to 32 thousand tonnes.
• Pig meat production remained steady in March 2010 at 27 thousand tonnes.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - March 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	193 497	169 395	167 514
Veal	3 377	3 763	3 648
Mutton	14 204	12 251	13 238
Lamb	36 390	32 765	32 110
Pig meat	30 690	27 455	27 435