During the fourth quarter of 2005, the total meat production amounted to 3,845 tonnes, a drop of 84 tonnes (-2.1 per cent), when compared to the same period last year, said the National Statistics Office yesterday.

The NSO said that whereas beef meat and broiler meat production decreased by 1.2 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively, pig meat production increased by 8.9 per cent.

While increases in cattle slaughterings were negligible, the number of pig slaughterings increased by 13.4 per cent, from 26,750 heads to 30,347 heads during the period under review. On the other hand, the number of broilers slaughterings decreased by 222,395 heads (-26.5 per cent) from 838,758 heads in the December quarter last year to 616,363 heads in the December quarter this year.

The total producer value for the last quarters of both years in 2004 and 2005 remained the same at the Lm2.75 million mark. However, shifts within the different sectors were noted.

The total producer value of slaughtered bovine increased by Lm0.04 million (+9.9 per cent) from Lm0.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2004 to Lm0.5 million in December quarter this year. An increase of 8.9 per cent in the producer value of the swine industry was registered, from Lm1.5 million in the December quarter of 2004 to Lm1.6 million in the fourth quarter this year. An opposite trend was registered in the broiler industry where a drop of Lm0.2 million (-23.0 per cent) was recorded. The producer value dropped from Lm0.8 million in the December quarter 2004 to Lm0.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Subsidies received by the breeders are not included in the producer value.

Annual

The total meat production for 2005 amounted to 14.8 thousand tonnes, down by 1.3 thousand tonnes (-7.8 per cent) from 16.1 thousand tonnes in 2004. Whereas beef and pig meat production increased by 7.7 and 5.0 per cent respectively, broiler meat production decreased by 28.2 per cent. This resulted in an overall drop in the producer value when compared to 2004.

The producer value dropped by Lm0.5 million (-4.4 per cent) from Lm10.9 million in 2004 to Lm10.3 million in 2005. During the period covered by this report, there was marginal activity in pig and cattle slaughtering at the Gozo abattoir as this is being refurbished, hence, regional data is irrelevant.