Livestock production
Cattle slaughter decreases and slaughter of chickens hits a record in Q1
June 08, 2021 09h00 AM | Last Updated: June 12, 2021 02h11 AM
Cattle slaughter in Q1 2021 reached 6.56 million head, lowest result since Q1 2009. That index represents a decrease of 10.6% in comparison with Q1 2020, and of 10.9% against Q4 2020. Mato Grosso is still the leader in terms of cattle slaughter, with 15.7% of the national total, followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (11.7%) and São Paulo (10.2%).
Data comes from Livestock Production Statistics, released today by the IBGE; the survey also shows that a total 1.57 billion head of hogs and pigs were slaughtered, reaching a new record in the time series initiated in 1997. The survey shows that slaughter of hogs and pigs was of 12.62 million head in Q1 2021, the best result for this period since the start of the series. “The trend observed in 2020 goes on now: decrease in cattle slaughter and increase in slaughter of chickens and of hogs and pigs,” says Bernardo Viscardi, manager of the survey.
Santa Catarina is still the leader in terms of slaughter of hogs and pigs, with 28.9%, followed by Paraná (20.3%) and Rio Grande do Sul (17.5%). Paraná is number one in terms of chicken slaughter, responsible for 33.1% of the national production, with Rio Grande Sul (13.9%) and Santa Catarina (13.3%) in the second and third positions, respectively.
As for cattle slaughter, Q1 2021 followed the same trend as in 2020 in terms of the slaughter of females, which reached its lowest level since 2003: 2.41 million animals. “At the same time, the average prices of the arroba for bulls and calves reached maximum figures in their respective series,” Mr. Viscardi explains. Despite the decrease, exports are still up, once the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), of the Ministry of the Economy, reported the third biggest volume of beef exported in the period, a record for a month of March (133.82 thousand metric tons).
Slaughter of hogs and pigs recorded an increase of 5.7% in relation to the same period in 2020 and of 0.6% in comparison with the 4th quarter of 2020; besides reaching a record for a first quarter, March recorded the highest result in the entire survey. Mr. Viscardi explains that, besides the good performance of exports, the price of live animals and of pork in the domestic market have been depreciated throughout the quarter, thus increasing its competition with other types of protein. “In this case, There has been influence from budget restraints among consumers and from restriction measures adopted to control Covid-19.”
The same explanation applies to chickens, whose slaughter in Q1 2021 was 3.3% above that in the same period of 2020 and 0.7% bigger in comparison with Q4 2020. “Since the performance of chicken meat exports remained at reasonable levels, only, it is right to consider that a significant part of such increase was directed to domestic consumption,” Viscardi says, as he mentions the price of chicken meat is of easier access to most of the population than other types of protein, mainly beef.
Milk acquisition and productiof of milk hit new records
According to the survey, acquisition of raw milk reached 6.56 billion liters, an increase of 1.8% against the 1st quarter of 2020, and a decrease of 3.5% in comparison with the previous quarter, a period when there is regularly a decrease in production versus Q4 in the previous year. In spite of that, this result represents more milk acquired for a Q1, exceeding the previous record of 2020.
Production of hen eggs reached 978.25 million dozen, 0.3% more than in Q1 2020 and 1.3% smaller than in the previous quarter . “Despite the decrease against the previous period, there was a record result for a Q1,” Mr. Viscardi says. Although the sector is still being affected by the rise of production costs, demand remained high due to the reasonable prices of eggs compared to other proteins.
In the Quarterly Survey of Leather, tanneries reported having received 7.07 million rawhide pieces in Q1, which means decreases of 6.6% in relation to the amount acquired in Q1 2020 and of 8% versus Q4 2020. That was the lowest number of pieces for the period since 2002.
About the survey
The survey provides information about the total number of head slaughtered for the following: cattle (bulls, cows, calves and heifers), hogs and pigs and chickens, having as collection unit establishments that are under sanitary inspection at municipal, state and federal levels. The survey is conducted on a quarterly basis, and, for each quarter of the civil year, data are presented per month.
The “First Results” of the Quarterly Survey of Animal Slaughter in Brazil have been released as temporary figures, since the first quarter of 2018, in order to fulfill demands from users for more immediate access to short-term data on livestock. These results are made available about one month before the release of “Complete Results". For additional information, visit Sidra
