Livestock Products, Australia

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Quarterly statistics on receivals of wool, livestock slaughtering and meat production

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Reference period
June 2020
Released
13/08/2020
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Livestock products (seasonally adjusted)

Since March 2020

Cattle

  • 1.8 million were slaughtered (down 8.7%)
  • 536,800 tonnes of beef were produced (down 8.5%)

Sheep

  • 1.4 million were slaughtered (down 30.0%)
  • 36,900 tonnes of mutton were produced (down 26.2%)

Lambs

  • 4.6 million were slaughtered (down 13.1%)
  • 110,200 tonnes of lamb were produced (down 12.1%)

Pigs

  • 1.3 million were slaughtered
  • 102,500 tonnes of pork were produced (down 0.7%)

Chickens

  • 164 million were slaughtered (down 2.4%)
  • 318,000 tonnes of chicken meat were produced (down 0.2%)

Wool

Receivals for the June 2020 quarter continue to be low. Continuing dry seasonal conditions have led to a decrease in wool produced in most regions, with many farms destocking across recent months.

  • 63,300 tonnes were received (down 14.5%)
  • Wool brokers and dealers reported decreases in all states except Queensland with New South Wales down 7.9% (to 19,100 tonnes), Victoria down 21.2% (to 17,500 tonnes) and Western Australia down 14.4% (to 15,200 tonnes). Queensland was up 17.5% (to 1,292 tonnes)

Livestock value (original)

  • Cattle and calves decreased by 2.4% to $3.1 billion
  • Sheep and lambs decreased by 21.1% to $1.1 billion
  • Pigs decreased by 9.1% to $369 million
  • Poultry decreased by 2.2% to $708 million

Changes in this and forthcoming issues

Impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in June 2020

The ABS is continuing to monitor potential impacts from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the suite of livestock statistics, and will continue to do so for the duration of the pandemic.

For the June 2020 reference quarter, COVID-19 did not impact data collection activities related to the ABS' livestock collections. For livestock slaughtering, individual abattoirs and slaughtering establishments reported a range of impacts attributed to COVID-19:

  • some businesses reported that although trade in food services has reduced, there is greater demand for meat from supermarkets and butchers;
  • select businesses reported a decrease in their operations due to COVID-19 restrictions impacting exports;
  • other businesses reported little to no impact from COVID-19 restrictions.

Suspension of trend estimates

The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in livestock slaughter (including poultry), meat production and wool receivals data.  In the short term, this measurement may be affected by changes to regular patterns in livestock slaughterings, meat production and wool receivals arising from continuing COVID-19 restrictions, as well as changes in overall environmental conditions.  If the trend estimates were to be calculated without fully accounting for these factors, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying behaviour in livestock slaughter, meat production and wool receivals.

It may be some time before the underlying trend can be estimated accurately.  The livestock slaughtering and meat production trend series were therefore suspended from the March 2020 reference quarter, and poultry slaughtering and meat production and wool receivals trend series suspended as at the June 2020 reference quarter.  These trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend for these series.

For more detail on trend estimates, please refer to paragraphs 24-27 in the Explanatory Notes and the ABS Feature Article: When it's Not "Business-as-Usual": Implications for ABS Time Series (cat no. 1350.0).

Data downloads

TABLE 1. Livestock Slaughtered - Excluding Chickens: All series ('000)

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TABLE 2. Livestock Slaughtered - Chickens: All series ('000)

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TABLE 3A. Livestock Slaughtered - Excluding Chickens: Original ('000)

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TABLE 3B. Livestock Slaughtered - Chickens: Original ('000)

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TABLE 4. Chicken Meat Produced: All series (tonnes)

Data files
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TABLE 5. Brokers and Dealers Receivals of Taxable Wool: All series (tonnes)

Data files
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Data Cubes

Data Files

Publication Table

Data files
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Gross value of livestock slaughtered

Data files
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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 7215.0.

Methodology

Livestock Products, Australia methodology, June 2020