NZ - 20% drop in lamb production
29 Oct 2012
New Zealand (NZ) lamb production during August fell 20% year-on-year, to 13,825 tonnes cwt, underpinned by a 21% decrease in slaughter, to 692,025 head - the lowest monthly result since August 2010 (Statistics NZ).
Despite the sharp decline in August, NZ lamb production for the first eight months of 2012 totalled 264,923 tonnes cwt - 4% above the corresponding period in 2011.
The North Island continued to generate the majority of NZ lamb, producing 69% of total August production, with 9,603 tonnes cwt, while average carcase weights for both Islands remained relatively steady at 20kg cwt.
While the final production and slaughter figures for the 2011-12 export season (October 2011 to September 2012) are yet to be released, provisional estimates indicate that NZ lamb slaughter for the year ending September reached 18.9 million head – 2% lower than the previous year.
Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
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