February 14, 2008

Australia's beef production down 5.1 percent on-year for Q4 2007

Beef production in Australia, a major global supplier, fell 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the third quarter of 2007 to a trend estimate of 528,400 tonnes, down 5.1 percent on-year, the government's Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday (February 14, 2008 ).

The total number of cattle slaughtered in the quarter was 1.98 million beasts, excluding calves, little changed from the third quarter but down 4.3 percent on-year, it reported.

Australia, the second biggest beef exporter in the world after Brazil, exports about two-thirds of its production, with about 90 percent destined for Japan, the US and South Korea and with the overall level of exports closely tied to production.

                                                          AUSTRALIAN MEAT PRODUCTION

                                                      (trend estimate, tonnes, carcass weight)

                           Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics