November 2, 2006

US September poultry figures down 3 percent on-year

US certified wholesome, chilled and frozen, ready to eat poultry numbers for September has fallen 5.7 percent from figures in August and 2.9 percent from last September, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Poultry figures for September totaled 3.4 billion pounds, compared to 3.7 billion in August and 3.5 billion for September last year.

However, when the first nine months of this year is compared to the same period last year, wholesome poultry figures have risen 1.8 percent, from 31 billion pounds to 31.6 billion pounds.

Total chicken slaughter was 721.208 million head, down 10 percent from the previous month and 5 percent below last year.

Increased average live weights may have compensated for some of the weight lost by decreased slaughter. Average live weight for all chickens was 5.53 pounds per bird, up 2.2 percent from the 5.41 pounds a year ago.