Agriculture - 1. quarter of 2006

It was produced 156 941 tonnes of meat total in carcass weight in 1st quarter 2006. This amount included 52.4% of pig meat, 12.7% of beef incl. veal and 34.8% of poultry meat. Meat production went down by 0.5% in comparison with the same period of the previous year. Milk collection decreased by 4.0% y-o-y.
Meat production went down in all sorts of meat except poultry meat. The poultry meat production slightly increased – by 0.7%.

Numbers of cattle for slaughter incl. calves decreased by 2.9% y-o-y. The average slaughter weight went up by 2.2% to 536.1 kg. Beef production inc. veal decreased by 0.7%.

Numbers of pigs for slaughter (excl. sows and boars) were decreased by 1.4% y-o-y. The average slaughter weight of pigs (excl. sows and boars) went up by 0.1% to 108.4 kg. Pig meat production decreased by 1.3%.
According to results of animal products statistics cattle numbers decreased by 1.2% as of 31 December 2005 y-o-y, of which cow numbers went down by 1.1%. Numbers of dairy cows went up slightly (by 1.8%) and their average milk yield per day increased by 4.4% to 17.13 litres y-o-y. As a result milk production increased by 5.2% y-o-y. Numbers of suckler cows went down by 10.3% y-o-y. Numbers of calves for slaughter less than 6 months and heifers for slaughter increased significantly, by 18.5% and 11.6 % respectively.
Pig numbers dropped by 6.7% y-o-y as of 1 December 2005. The decrease was recorded in all categories except for sows. Number of weaned piglets per sows increased by 1.1% to 19.2 head in 2005 y-o-y.
Numbers of poultry dropped by 10.3% y-o-y in 2005, of which hens by 12.7% as of 31 December 2005.
Prices of agricultural producers of cattle for slaughter rose in all categories in 1st quarter 2006. Prices of bulls for slaughter rose by 3.5%, heifers for slaughter by 4.3%, cows for slaughter by 3.3% and calves for slaughter by 1.9% y-o-y. The average price of bulls for slaughter A-quality reached CZK 41.56 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 74.99 per kilogram in carcass weight.

On the contrary prices of agricultural producers of pigs went down by 7.2% y-o-y. The average price of pigs for slaughter 1st-quality reached CZK 30.60 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 39.28 per kilogram in carcass weight.

Prices of agricultural producers of chicken for slaughter 1st-quality decreased by 9.7% y-o-y. The average price of chicken for slaughter 1st-quality reached CZK 19.89 per kilogram in live weight.

According to preliminary results external trade1) in beef ended in a passive trade balance 3 144 tonnes for beef, 21 523 tonnes for pig meat and 11 829 tonnes for poultry meat in the period from 1 December 2005 to 28 February 2006. Beef imports went up by 23.2% and exports increased by 21.6% y-o-y. Beef was exported predominantly to Austria (50%) and Slovakia (28%) and imported mainly from Poland (51%) and to a lesser extent from Austria (13%), Slovakia (13%) and Germany (13%). Imports of pig meat went up by 28.5% whereas exports went down by 7.5% year-on-year. Pig meat was exported largely to Slovakia (81%) and imported from Germany (43%) and Poland (19%). Poultry meat imports increased by 13.8% whereas exports decreased by 40% y-o-y. Poultry meat was exported predominantly to Slovakia (61%) and Germany (23%) and imported from Poland (24%), Brazil (14%), the Netherlands (13%) and Slovakia (11%).

External trade1) in live animals ended in active trade balance 8 123 tonnes for cattle, 2 240 tonnes for pigs and 2 380 tonnes for poultry. Imports of live cattle decreased by 31.5% y-o-y whereas exports went up by 8.4%. Live cattle were exported largely to Austria (41%), Germany (19%) and Greece (13%). Imports went from Slovakia (54%), Germany (24%) and Poland (12%). Pig exports increased four-times, on the contrary exports decreased by a quarter. Exports of pigs were destined predominantly to Slovakia (59%), Germany (23%) and Hungary (14%). Live pigs were imported largely from Germany (47%) and the Netherlands (42%). Imports of live poultry decreased by 12.7% while exports went up by 63.3% y-o-y. Live poultry were exported mainly to Germany (50%) and Poland (22%) and imported from Slovakia (96%).
Milk collected to dairies stand at 582.8 mil litres in 1st quarter 2006. Milk collection decreased by 4.0% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Prices of milk’s agricultural producers went down by 2.5% y-o-y. The average price of the Q-quality milk reached CZK 8.11 per liter.

External trade ¹⁾ in milk and milk products

External trade ¹⁾ in milk and milk products ended in active trade balance 63.7 thousand tonnes in the period from 1 December 2005 to 28 February 2006 due to a high amount of raw milk exports (incl. cream). Exports of milk and milk products went up by 13.8% and imports increased by 44% y-o-y. Milk and milk products were exported predominantly to Germany (55%) and Slovakia (21%) and imported largely from Poland (37%), Slovakia (28%) and Germany (27%).

1) In the frame of EU trade excluding data under threshold of Intrastat statistics

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Methodical note:
Contact person: Jiří Hrbek, phone 27405 2331, e-mail: jiri.hrbek@csu.gov.cz
Source: full survey carried out by the Czech Statistical Office, Agricultural Producer Price Indices in March 2006 (CZSO).
Milk collection and purchase of poultry – survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Date of completing data collection: 10 April 2006
Date of completing data processing: 26 April 2006
These data are final.

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