May 14, 2004

Australian 1st Quarter Beef Output Up 2.3%
 
Beef production in Australia, a major global exporter, rose 2.3% in the first quarter of this year to 506,169 metric tons from 494,826 tons in the fourth quarter of last year, the government's Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday.
 
The bureau said the rise in beef production was in line with an increase in the number of cattle slaughtered.
 
Compared with the year-earlier quarter, beef output in the first three months was up 0.8%.
 
Australia exports about two-thirds of its beef production, mostly to the U.S. and Japan, with the overall volume of exports closely tied to production.
 
The bureau reported the total number of cattle slaughtered, excluding calves, in the first quarter rose to 1.96 million from 1.94 million in the fourth quarter, but is still down from the 2.02 million slaughtered in the first quarter of last year.
 
It attributed the slight rise in the number of cattle slaughtered in the first quarter from the fourth quarter to a lack of widespread rain across most cattle regions, which encouraged producers to reduce their herds.
 
               AUSTRALIAN MEAT PRODUCTION
        (trend data, metric tons, carcass weight)
 
                     1Q 2004     4Q 2003    1Q 2003
 
 Beef               506,169     494,826     502,333
 Veal                9,568        9,255        9,613
 Mutton             56,562      51,635       62,102
 Lamb               87,164      84,361       81,517
 Pigmeat           100,007    101,408      106,169
 
 (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics)