Cattle slaughter increased 3.4% in 2018, hitting 31.90 million head. It was the second consecutive rise in the annual time series, after three years of drop. The slaughter of hogs and pigs rose 2.4% and hit a new record, reaching 44.20 million head. On the other hand, chicken slaughter fell 2.5% in 2018, the second consecutive drop after the annual record in 2016, adding up to 5.70 billion chicken head.

The acquisition of milk hit 24.45 billion liters, a rise of 0.5%. Leather acquisition reached 35.10 million pieces and increased 3.0% over 2017. The production of hen eggs rose 8.6% and hit 3.6 billion dozens, a new record in the time series started in 1987. The complete publication can be accessed on the right.

Cattle slaughter increases 3.4% and has second consecutive annual rise

31.90 million cattle head were slaughtered in 2018, an increase of 3.4% (1.03 million head) over 2017. This was the second consecutive rise in the annual time series. The growth was leveraged by the increases in 17 out of the 27 Federation Units, especially in Mato Grosso (+414.73 thousand head), Rio Grande do Sul (+205.13 thousand), Paraná (+157.50 thousand), Rondônia (+125.93 thousand), São Paulo (+122.73 thousand), Tocantins (+86.94 thousand), Santa Catarina (+44.32 thousand), Minas Gerais (+33.88 thousand) and Goiás (+27.90 thousand). The most intense drops took place in Mato Grosso do Sul (-142.20 thousand head), Pará (-27.89 thousand), Maranhão (-25.60 thousand) and Espírito Santo (-23.15 thousand).

Accounting for 16.4% of the national production, Mato Grosso remained the leader in the ranking of FUs, followed by its neighbors in the Central-West: Mato Grosso do Sul (10.3%) and Goiás (10.1%).

8.14 million cattle head were slaughtered in the fourth quarter of 2018, 1.0% more than in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 1.7% less than in the third quarter.

Slaughter of hogs and pigs increases 2.4% and hits a new record in 2018

44.20 million head of hogs and pigs were slaughtered in 2018, an increase of 2.4% (+1.02 million head) over 2017. The annual series showed a continuous increase of this activity, culminating in a new record level in 2018.

Slaughtering increased in 19 out of the 26 FUs participating in the survey. Among those with a share above 1.0%, Mato Grosso do Sul (+296.40 thousand head), Rio Grande do Sul (+194.72 thousand), São Paulo (+181.64 thousand), Paraná (+86.80 thousand), Santa Catarina (+80.43 thousand), Mato Grosso (+69.34 thousand), Minas Gerais (+62.69 thousand) and Goiás (+46.73 thousand) increased.

Santa Catarina kept leading the slaughter of hogs and pigs in 2018, with 26.2% of the national participation, followed by Paraná (21.0%) and Rio Grande do Sul (18.6%).

11.10 million head of hogs and pigs were slaughtered in the fourth quarter of 2018, a drop of 4.0% over the immediately previous quarter and an increase of 0.4% over the same period in 2017. This was the best result for a fourth quarter, after the record in the time series – started in 1997 – in the previous quarter. Besides, October 2018 was the best result for October in the time series.

Chicken slaughter falls 2.5% in 2018, second drop in a row

5.70 billion head of chicken were slaughtered in 2018, a drop of 2.5% (-144.23 million head) over 2017. This was the second consecutive drop, after the annual record reached in 2016.

The slaughter was reduced in 13 out of the 24 FUs that participated in the survey. Among those with a contribution above 1.0%, there were decreases in: Santa Catarina (-93.55 million head), Paraná (-50.50 million), São Paulo (-18.44 million), Minas Gerais (-17.04 million), Mato Grosso do Sul (-6.00 million) and the Federal District (-62.96 thousand head). The rises were in: Mato Grosso (+13.20 million head), Goiás (+12.87 million), Pará (+9.29 million), Bahia (+6.47 million) and Rio Grande do Sul (+5.40 million).

Paraná kept widely leading the national share (31.4%), followed by Rio Grande do Sul (15.0%) and Santa Catarina (13.4%).

1.42 billion chicken head were slaughtered in the fourth quarter of 2018, representing a decrease of 0.7% over the immediately previous quarter and of 0.9% over the same period in 2017. This was the second best October in the time series in volume of slaughtered head, only surpassed by October 2015.

Milk acquisition remains stable with an increase of 0.5%

In 2018, dairy products under sanitary inspection collected 24.45 billion liters, representing an increase of 0.5% over 2017. They kept a relative stability in relation to 2017, when the production rose once again after two consecutive years of drops in the annual time series.

The acquisition of 116.60 million more liters of milk at the national level resulted from the increase in the volume collected in 16 out of the 26 FUs taking part in the Quarterly Survey of Milk. The biggest increases took place in Paraná (+156.94 million liters), Minas Gerais (+82.17 million), Bahia (+66.95 million) and Goiás (+58.89 million). Ten FUs dropped, especially in São Paulo (-144.84 million liters).

Minas Gerais remained the leader with 24.8% of the national share, followed by Rio Grande do Sul (13.9%) and Paraná (12.6%).     

Milk acquisition was of 6.70 billion liter in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 2.4% over the fourth quarter of 2017. The volume was 7.1% higher in relation to the immediately previous quarter. The comparison between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the same period in 2017 pointed out an increase of 157.41 million liters of milk at national level.

Leather acquisition grows 3% over 2017

The tanning houses investigated by the Quarterly Survey of Leather – those that tan at least 5 thousand whole pieces of cattle raw hide per year – reported to have received 35.10 million whole pieces of cattle raw hide in 2018, a rise of 3.0% over 2017 or more 1.03 million whole pieces of raw hide at national level.

This rise resulted in the increase in the receiving of cattle raw hide in 12 out of the 20 FUs that have at least one active tanning house framed in the universe of the survey. The major increases were registered in Rondônia (+624.00 thousand pieces), Mato Grosso (+352.05 thousand), Goiás (+272.41 thousand) and Rio Grande do Sul (+229.01 thousand). On the other hand, the major drops were reported in Bahia (-466.95 thousand pieces), Minas Gerais (-177.84 thousand), São Paulo (-118.73 thousand) and Espírito Santo (-104.74 thousand pieces).

Among the FUs, Mato Grosso remained the leader in 2018, accounting for 16.5% of the national share, followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (13.0%) and São Paulo (11.9%).

The investigated tanning houses reported to have received 9.0 million raw hide pieces in the fourth quarter of 2018, a reduction of 1.3% over the immediately previous quarter and a rise of 2.8% over the fourth quarter of 2017. The comparison between the fourth quarters of 2017 and 2018 pointed out to an increase of 247.53 thousand pieces in the total acquired by those establishments.

Production of hen eggs increases 8.6% and reaches 3.6 billion dozens

The production of hen eggs was of 3.60 billion dozens in 2018, representing an increase of 8.6% over the previous year, a record in the time series started in 1987.

The increase came from 23 out of the 26 FUs with eligible chicken farms. Like in 2017, the most significant increases were in São Paulo (+74.46 million dozens) and Espírito Santo (+52.16 million), followed by Ceará (+25.67 million), Pernambuco (+23.17 million), Goiás (+21.29 million) and Mato Grosso (+20.79 million).
The most significant reduction took place in the Federal District (-1.34 million dozens).

The state of São Paulo remained the leader of the ranking of FUs with 29.4% of the national production, followed by Espírito Santo (9.5%), Minas Gerais (9.1%) and Paraná (8.7%).

936.32 million dozens of hen eggs were produced in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 1.6% over the production in the third quarter and of 9.1% over the fourth quarter of 2017. The production of hen eggs in the fourth quarter of 2018 was a record in the time series started in 1987.