October 5, 2007

Australian beef production drops 8 percent in August

Australia's cattle turnoff and beef production tightened during August and beef production for the month fell 6 percent on the same time last year, to 182,557 tonnes cwt according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

However, Australian beef production during the first eight months of 2007 was up 2 percent on last year, at 1.4 million tonnes cwt, the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) reported.

This was thanks to a 4-percent jump in national slaughter (at 5.4 million head).

Average carcase weights (at 267kg/head) were down 2 percent.

Adult cattle slaughter during August fell 3 percent on the same time last year, to 667,000 head, driven by a 6 percent fall in Queensland and 2 percent decline in Victoria. NSW slaughter for the month fell 2 percent, to 141,000 head.

While female cattle slaughter at at 319,000 head was 13-percent above the same time last year, male cattle slaughter fell 15 percent, to 347,000 head, as many producers withheld steers to finish at higher weights.

The average cattle carcase weight in August was 3 percent below last year, at 267.8kg/head.

This was partly due to the fact that a higher proportion of the cattle slaughtered were female.