February 27, 2012

UK's beef, pork output rise slightly

Pork and beef output rose slightly compared with December 2011 as the UK produced 78,000 tonnes of pork, 84,000 tonnes of beef and 23,000 tonnes of mutton and lamb in January.

According to Defra's UK Slaughter Statistics, in January, the UK slaughtered 943,000 clean pigs compared to 743,000 the previous month. 59,000 cows and adult bulls were slaughtered, compared to 46,000 in December 2011. However, the number of sheep and lambs slaughtered dropped at 978,000 head compared to 1007,000 in December.

The average slaughter weight for clean pigs rose only very slightly at 79.1 kilogrammes compared to 78 kilogrammes in December. The same goes for cows and adult bulls and sheep and lambs at 318.7 kilogrammes, compared to 311.6 kilogrammes and 19.6 compared 18.7, respectively in December.

On a weekly basis, the UK slaughtered 189,000 clean pigs in January, compared to 186,000 in December. The number of cows and adult bulls slaughtered also dropped at 12,000, compared to 11,000 in the previous month. The number of weekly slaughtering of sheep and lambs in January dropped dramatically at 196,000, compared to 252,000 in December.