September 30, 2011

Brazil's cattle slaughter down

For the second quarter, Brazil slaughtered 7.065 million head of cattle, which is 7% less than in the same period last year, the Brazilian Census Bureau (IBGE) said Thursday (Sep 29).

The Centre-West accounted for 35.8% of cattle slaughters in the period, followed by the Southeast (20.9%), North (20.5%), South (12.1%), and Northeast (10.7%). The main producing states were Mato Grosso (14.8% of the total), São Paulo (11.7%), and Mato Grosso do Sul (11.5%).

The IBGE also said that 1.31 billion chickens were slaughtered in April through June, an increase of 6% on the year. Hog slaughters rose 6.7% in the same comparison to hit a record 8.615 million.

Egg production rose 3.7% in the second quarter versus a year before, to 633.4 million dozens. The volume of milk bought by dairy and food companies, meanwhile, climbed 2.6% to 5 billion litres.