Meat production exceeds 3,600 tonnes in second quarter

A total of 3,613 tonnes of meat were produced in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 9.6 per cent over the comparative period in 2006, the National Statistics Office said.

No slaughtering of animals was undertaken in the Gozitan slaughter-houses.

While a decline of 0.1 per cent in the production of pig meat was recorded, beef and broiler meat production rose by 3.4 per cent and 30.4 per cent respectively when compared to the second quarter in 2006.

The number of slaughtered cattle and pigs declined by 0.9 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively but the number of slaughtered broilers rose by 8.3 per cent in the second quarter this year.

The producer value of animals slaughtered at licensed slaughter houses in the second quarter increased by 5.1 per cent to stand at Lm2.5 million. A drop of 5.1 per cent was registered in the producer value of pig meat, which was offset by an increase in the producer value of beef and broiler meat by 4.5 per cent and 27.8 per cent respectively.

When comparing the first six months of 2007 to the same period last year, the volume of livestock slaughtering increased by 3.7 per cent. This was due to a 34.1 per cent rise in the production of broiler meat. There was no change in the total slaughtering producer value, which stood at Lm4.7 million.