Almost all the major activities of livestock grew in the third quarter of 2019 in relation to the same period in 2018: cattle (2.1%), hogs and pigs (0.9%) and chicken slaughter (3.1%), as well as milk acquisition (0.6%) and production of hen eggs (4.3%). The last one has been hitting records in the time series, started in 1987, having surpassed by 0.7% the milestone reached in the previous quarter. On the other hand, leather acquisition fell 5.7%.

Cattle slaughter rises 7% over previous quarter

In the third quarter of 2019, 8.49 million cattle head under some sort of sanitary inspection were slaughtered.  This amount was 2.1% bigger than that obtained in the third quarter of 2018 and 7.0% above that registered in the immediately previous quarter.

The slaughter of 177.10 thousand more cattle head in the 3rd quarter of 2019 over the same period a year ago was leveraged by the increase in 16 out of the 27 Federation Units - FUs. Among those with a contribution above 1.0%, there were positive changes in: Mato Grosso do Sul (+147.07 thousand head), Mato Grosso (+103.55 thousand head), São Paulo (+82.52 thousand head), Minas Gerais (+33.37 thousand head), Santa Catarina (+17.79 thousand head) and Maranhão (+8.4 thousand head). In contrast, the biggest reductions were in: Goiás (-89.00 thousand head), Pará (-65.14 thousand head), Rio Grande do Sul (-39.54 thousand head), Tocantins (-20.20 thousand head), Rondônia (-16.20 thousand head) and Bahia (-13.30 thousand head).

Among the FUs, Mato Grosso remained the leader in cattle slaughter, accounting for 18.0% of the national share, followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (11.1%) and São Paulo (10.2%).

Hogs and pigs slaughter rises 5.2% over previous quarter

11.70 million head of hogs and pigs were slaughtered in the third quarter of 2019, representing an increase of 0.9% in relation to the same period in 2018 and an of 2.7% over the same the second quarter of 2019. It was a record result in the time series started in 1997, strengthened by the record performance of slaughtering in the months of July and September.

The slaughter of 109.75 thousand more head of hogs and pigs in the third quarter of 2019, in relation to the same period a year ago, was leveraged by rises in 18 out of the 25 Federation Units under the scope of the survey. Among the States with a share over 1.0%, the increases were in: Santa Catarina (+58.25 thousand head), Minas Gerais (+47.01 thousand head), Mato Grosso (+46.76 thousand head), São Paulo (+34.32 thousand head) and Mato Grosso do Sul (+16.13 thousand head). In contrast, the reductions were in: Paraná (-78.47 thousand head), Goiás (-17.21 thousand head) and Rio Grande do Sul (-7.62 thousand head).

In the ranking of FUs, Santa Catarina remained leading the slaughter of hogs and pigs, with 27.2% of the national participation, followed by Paraná (20.0%) and Rio Grande do Sul (18.0%).

Chicken slaughter grows 3.0% in relation to the previous quarter

In the third quarter of 2019, 1.47 billion chicken head were slaughtered. This figure represented an increase of 3.1% over the same period in 2018 and of 3.3% compared with the second quarter of 2019. The survey recorded the second best result in volume of slaughtered head for July, being surpassed only by 2015.

The slaughter of more 44.26 million chicken head in the 3rd quarter of 2019, in relation to the same period in the previous year, was determined by increases in the slaughter in 17 out of the 25 Federation Units analyzed in the survey. Among those with a contribution above 1.0%, there were increases in: Santa Catarina (+25.37 million head), Paraná (+25.36 million head), Mato Grosso (+3.12 million head), Bahia (+2.38 million head), Minas Gerais (+2.27 million head), Pará (+1.02 million head) and Mato Grosso do Sul (+277.64 million head). Conversely, there were drops in: Rio Grande do Sul (-8.64 million head), São Paulo (-3.06 million head) and Goiás (-865.83 thousand head).

In the ranking of FUs, Paraná remained leading by a wide margin the slaughter of chicken in Brazil, with 32.5% of the national participation, followed by Santa Catarina (14.3%) and Rio Grande do Sul (14.0%).

Mato Grosso remained leading the ranking of Federation Units that receive rawhide pieces to be processed, with 16.8% of the national contribution, followed by Mato Grosso do Sul (13.5%) and São Paulo (12.4%).

Milk acquisition rises 7.5% in relation to previous quarter

In the 3rd quarter of 2019, the acquisition of raw milk by establishments under some kind of sanitary inspection (either federal, state or municipal) was of 6.29 billion liters, representing an increase of 0.6% over the amount produced in the 3rd quarter of 2018 and of 7.5% compared with the immediately previous quarter. In Graph I.12, it is possible to perceive the cyclical behavior in the milk sector, in which the third quarters recover the acquisition in relation to the previous quarters, leveraged by the initial harvest in some of the dairies in Brazil. This result represented a record for milk acquisition in third quarters in the time series started in 1997.

Comparing the third quarter of 2019 with the same period in 2018, the increase of 37.73 million liters of milk acquired at national level was due to the rise reported in 15 out of the 26 FUs participating in the Quarterly Survey of Milk. At the Federation Unit level, the most relevant increases, in absolute figures, took place in Minas Gerais (+64.67 million liters), Paraná (+43.76 million liters), Bahia (+11.93 million liters) and Ceará (+10.79 million liters). The most significant reductions took place in Rio Grande do Sul (-26.41 million liters), Goiás (-20.43 million liters) and Santa Catarina (-17.09 million liters). Minas Gerais remained leading the ranking of milk acquisition, with 24.5% of the national acquisition, followed by Paraná (14.3%) and Rio Grande do Sul (13.7%).

Leather acquisition drops 5.7% in relation to 2018

In the third quarter of 2019, the tanning houses investigated in the Quarterly Survey of Leather – those that carry out the tanning of at least 5,000 whole pieces of raw hide per year –- reported to have received 8.59 million whole cattle raw hides. This total represented a reduction of 5.7% in relation to that acquired in the third quarter of 2018 and an increase of 2.4% against the second quarter of 2019.

The comparison between the third quarters of 2018 and 2019 pointed out a negative change of 523.25 thousand pieces in the total acquired by the establishments, coming from the reduction in 12 out of the 19 Federation Units that have tanning houses eligible by the universe of the survey.  The most significant negative changes took place in Pará (-178,86 thousand pieces), Mato Grosso (-140.90 thousand pieces), Paraná (-113.17 thousand pieces), Maranhão (-110.56 thousand pieces), Rio Grande do Sul (-70.61 thousand pieces) and Goiás (-43.83 thousand pieces). The most significant increases took place in Rondônia (+78.25 thousand pieces), Minas Gerais (+42.98 thousand pieces), Acre (+34.44 thousand pieces) and São Paulo (+22.31 thousand pieces).

Production of eggs hits new record

In the third quarter of 2019, 964.89 million dozens of hen eggs were produced.  It corresponded to an increase of 4.3% in relation to that reported in the third quarter of 2018 and of 0.7% in relation to the production in the immediately previous quarter. Considering the time series of the survey, started in 1987, the production was record, surpassing the previous peak in the second quarter of 2019, when 958.11 million dozens were produced.

In the comparison with the third quarter of 2018, the production of 40.16 million more dozens of eggs was leveraged by the increases in 21 out of the 26 FUs with eligible chicken farms. Comparing the productions in these quarters, the most significant increases took place in Paraná (+9.45 million dozens), Ceará (+8.95 million dozens), Minas Gerais (+7.04 million dozens), Mato Grosso (+5.40 million dozens) and Goiás (+3.95 million dozens). The most significant reductions took place in Rio Grande do Sul (-1.94 million dozens) and Alagoas (-1.19 million dozens).

Holding 28.4% of the national production, the state of São Paulo remained as the biggest producer of eggs among the Federation Units, followed by Paraná (9.3%), Minas Gerais (9.3%) and Espírito Santo (9.2%).

By crossing the register information of the chicken farms with the data reported in the third quarter, it was possible to account for the amount of chicken farms and eggs produced according to the purpose of the production (either consumption or incubation). It unveiled that 1,076, more than half of the chicken farms (56.3%), produced eggs for consumption, accounting for 81.1% of the eggs produced, whereas 836 chicken farms (43.7%) produced eggs for incubation, accounting for 18.9% of the eggs produced.