During the first quarter of 2006, the total meat production amounted to 3,290 tonnes, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Comparing the volume with the same period last year, a drop of 271 tonnes (–7.61 per cent) in the production of meat was registered. Whereas beef and pig meat production decreased by 3.45 and 1.01 per cent respectively, broiler meat production declined by 21.66 per cent.

While the total of cattle slaughtering dropped by 52 heads (–3.62 per cent) from 1,438 heads in March quarter 2005 to 1,386 heads in the same period this year, the total of broiler slaughtering dropped by 21.09 per cent, from 0.7 million heads to 0.5 million heads. On the other hand, the total of pigs slaughtering increased by 857 heads (+3.44 per cent) from 24,931 heads last year to 25,788 heads in March quarter this year.

The total slaughtering producer value for the period under review stood at Lm2.4 million.

This was a drop of Lm0.1 million (–5.16 per cent) when compared to the Lm2.5 million registered in the first quarter of 2005. Subsidies received by the breeders are not included in the producer value.

During the comparative period, whereas the producer value of bovine production increased by Lm39,189 (+9.47 per cent) from Lm414,028 to Lm453,217, the swine industry registered a slight decline of 1.01 per cent from Lm1,403,660 in 2005 to Lm1,389,467 this year. A decline in broiler slaughtering resulted in a drop of Lm153,334 (–22.92 per cent) in the producer value from Lm668,999 in 2005 to Lm515,665 in the first quarter of 2006.

There was marginal activity in pig and cattle slaughtering at the Gozo abattoir during the period covered by this report as this was being refurbished.