Beef and pork production up, chickens down

Michaela Muscat

The production of beef and pork has increased by 13.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively as opposed to the production of broiler meat, which has declined by 22.5 percent as reported in the Livestock Slaughtering Review issued by the National Statistics Office for the June quarter.
Although the production of pork has increased, a drop has been recorded in the volume of pigs slaughtered as well as that of broiler meat. The number of pigs dropped by 919 heads and the number of broiler decreased by 24.9 per cent. On the contrary the number of cattle slaughtered has increased by 165 heads increasing the total producer value to Lm67,007. However the total producer value dropped Lm0.1 million from Lm2.6 million to Lm2.5 million if the subsidies received by the breeders are not included.
The decline in total producer value is the result of the decline in producer value of broiler and pig meat, which declined by 19.4 per cent, and 0.2 per cent respectively.
During this period the Gozo abattoir was being refurbished so no regional data is available.