NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
June 2010	6 August 2010
July 2010	7 September 2010
August 2010	8 October 2010
September 2010	9 November 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 5939.


INQUIRIES

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


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


LIVESTOCK

• In May 2010, the trend estimate for cattle slaughterings continued to increase, up 1% from April 2010 to 640 thousand.
• The trend estimate for sheep slaughterings continued to fall in May 2010, down to 518 thousand, a decrease of 44% from May 2009.
• The trend estimate for lamb slaughterings is down 10% from May 2009.
• Pig slaughterings in May 2010 remained steady at 384 thousand.

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERED, Australia - May 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	no.	no.	no.
Cattle (excl. calves)	700 439	648 017	640 291
Calves	69 785	71 240	70 784
Sheep	495 112	519 831	517 646
Lambs	1 661 465	1 597 424	1 573 821
Pigs	402 920	388 524	383 879

MEAT

• In May 2010, the trend estimate for beef production rose 1% from April 2010, to 175 thousand tonnes.
• The trend estimate for mutton production continues to decline, falling 40% from May 2009 to 12 thousand tonnes.
• In May 2010 lamb production decreased 5% from May 2009.
• Pig meat production remained stable in May 2010 at 28 thousand tonnes.

MEAT PRODUCED, Australia - May 2010
	Original	Seasonally Adjusted	Trend
	t	t	t
Beef	189 578	176 918	175 340
Veal	3 481	3 616	3 608
Mutton	10 707	11 841	11 561
Lamb	36 856	35 243	34 423
Pig meat	29 974	28 464	28 196