Australian beef and veal production during the first quarter of 2008 was back 11pc year-on-year, totalling 490,707 tonnes (dressed) as a combination of sluggish export demand, disruptions to processing operations and improved seasonal conditions impacted volumes. According to Meat and Livestock Australia, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that production for the March quarter was the lowest start to a year since 2004, with production back across all States except WA.
The ABS figures show that in Queensland, beef and veal production for the March quarter declined 16%, to 212,246t.
MLA says the combination of weather and holiday disruptions to processing operations throughout the first three months of the year, with the ongoing lack of finished cattle out of feedlots, meant a continued constraint on the availability of supplies for processing.
Queensland adult cattle slaughter for the March quarter was back 17pc year-on-year, to 718,000 head, with very little change in the proportion of male (60pc) and female (40pc) cattle slaughtered.
Production for the quarter fell across all of the remaining states, with the exception of WA, which increased 4pc year-on-year, to just below 31,000t.
NSW production for the quarter dropped 8pc, to 114,304t, while Victorian (95,584t) and SA (22,571t) volumes fell 8pc and 14pc, respectively.
Surprisingly, given the significant decline in the turn-off of heavy grainfed cattle, average adult carcase weights for the March quarter remained unchanged year-on-year, at just below 270kg/head.
MLA says this result would most likely indicate that the turn-off weight of grassfed cattle increased throughout the quarter – a reflection of the improved seasonal conditions since summer throughout Central and Southern Queensland and Northern NSW.
According to the ABS, total beef and veal production for March was back 13pc year-on-year, at 179,656t – the eighth consecutive monthly decline.
Queensland, NSW and Victoria all recorded year-on-year declines of 12pc, while SA production dropped 28pc.
SOURCE: Meat and Livestock Australia