Red meat production drops: ABS

The latest ABS figures have surprised many, with red meat numbers dropping despite the soaring value of livestock.

Red meat production was down 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

And while the first three months of the year saw the gross value of livestock come in at $4.8 billion, the value of cattle and calves slaughtered was down 1.4 per cent (to $3.5 billion) and sheep and lambs was back 3.7 per cent (to $1.3 billion).

A year ago, the gross value of cattle and sheep production was $4 billion.

Cattle kill numbers are similar to the first quarter of 2021, but there has been a lift of 600,000 over last year for sheep and lamb slaughter (6.4 million this year compared to 5.8 million last year).

The shining light in the latest numbers was the lamb industry, with an increase in kill rates of 1.2 per cent to 4.9 million compared to the December quarter.

And in a reflection of the better season in some areas, lamb meat production was up 3.6 per cent for the March quarter, to 120,677 tonnes.

In contrast, the number of sheep slaughtered in the March 2022 quarter fell 5.2 per cent to 1.5 million compared to the final three months of last year.

But mutton production was back 9.3 per cent to total just 37,246 tonnes in the three-month period.

Beef production also slipped from the December quarter, back 3.2 per cent to 452,673 tonnes.

The number of cattle slaughtered from January to March this year was down 3.6 per cent to 1.4 million.

White meat production figures were mixed, with pig meat production down 3.7 per cent to 107,435 tonnes and chicken meat up 3.2 per cent to 347,304 tonnes.