October 25, 2023

Drop in South Korea's beef cattle number in Q3 2023

The number of beef cattle in South Korea edged down on-year in the third quarter of 2023, data on October 20 showed, as farmers reduced the number of cows raised to deal with falling prices.

South Korean farms raised 3.71 million beef cattle as of end-September, down 1.1% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. The price of cattle had fallen in line with a long-term excess supply, as the cattle population has been on a constant rise, reaching an all-time yearly high of 3.73 million at end-2022.

The number of milk cows also fell 1% on-year to 386,000 in the third quarter.

For other livestock, the number of ducks dropped 4.2% on-year to 8.81 million amid a fall in productivity, according to Statistics Korea.

However, South Korea saw 11.39 million pigs raised in the third quarter, up 0.6% on-year.

The number of broiler chickens inched up 0.4% on-year to 89.85 million, data showed.

- Yonhap