Meat production down

During the third quarter, the total meat production amounted to 3,381 tonnes, a drop of 19.8 per cent when compared to the same period last year, statistics released by the National Statistics Office show.

Whereas beef production remained stable, the volume of pig meat and broiler meat production declined by 12 per cent and 33.7 per cent respectively.

While the number of pigs slaughtered dropped from 28,124 heads in the quarter ending September 2003 to 24,997 heads in the same quarter this year, the number of broilers slaughtered fell from 1.12 million heads to 757,323 heads.

This resulted in an 18 per cent drop in the total producer value, from Lm2.85 million to Lm2.34 million.

Whereas the producer value of bovine production increased by Lm0.01 million liri (+4.4 per cent) from Lm0.33 million to Lm0.34 million, the swine industry registered a decline of 12 per cent from Lm1.49 million in 2003 to Lm1.31 million this year.

During the first nine months of this year, the total number of cattle, pigs, and broilers slaughtered declined by 10.6 per cent, 14.4 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

On average, this brought down the volume of meat production from 13,914 tonnes to 12,125 tonnes, a drop of 12.9 per cent, while the producer value was also down by Lm1.28 million, from Lm9.38 million in the first nine months last year to Lm8.1 million in the same period this year.