Agriculture - 4. quarter of 2007

Meat production in total went up by 2.0% y-o-y in the 4th quarter of 2007. Milk collection increased by 3.6% y-o-y.
Meat production in total amounted to 626 297 tonnes in carcass weight in 2007, which was less by 0.4 % compared to the previous year. Meat production in total included 54.4% of pig meat, 12.7% of beef incl. veal and 32.9% of poultry meat. Milk collection increased by 2.6% y-o-y.
Slaughter and meat production

Number of slaughtered cattle incl. calves decreased by 3.1% y-o-y in the 4th quarter of 2007. On the contrary average carcass weight of cattle went up by 0.8% to 292.7 kg y-o-y. As a result, beef incl. veal production went down by 2.4% y-o-y.

Number of slaughtered pigs went up by 3.5% y-o-y and their average carcass weight increased by 0.2% to 88.2 kg. Pig meat production went up by 3.7% y-o-y.

Poultry meat production went up by 0.8% compared to the 4th quarter of 2006.

Agricultural producer prices of cattle, pigs and chicken for slaughter

Agricultural producer prices of cattle for slaughter differed in each cattle category in the 4th quarter of 2007. Price of bulls for slaughter declined by 5.0% y-o-y and price of cows for slaughter went down by 0.2%. On the other hand price of heifers for slaughter rose by 0.6% and price of calves increased by 4.6%. The average price of the E and U-quality bulls for slaughter reached CZK 38.75 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 75.61 per kilogram in carcass weight.

Agricultural producer price of pigs for slaughter went down by 8.0% y-o-y. The average price of the E and U-quality pigs for slaughter reached CZK 29.09 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 37.57 per kilogram in carcass weight.

Agricultural producer price of the 1st-quality chicken for slaughter increased by 22.2% y-o-y. The average price of the 1st-quality chicken reached CZK 23.31 per kilogram in live weight.

Milk collection and agricultural producer prices of milk

Milk collected to dairies amounted to 578.2 mil. litres in the 4th quarter of 2007. Milk collection went up by 3.6% compared to the 4th quarter of 2006.
Agricultural producer prices of milk rose by 20.7% in the 4th quarter of 2007y-o-y. The average price of the Q-quality milk totaled CZK 9.33 per liter.

Evaluation of meat production, milk collection, agricultural producer prices and foreign trade in 2007

Meat production in total amounted to 626 297 tonnes in carcass weight in 2007, which was less by 0.4% compared to 2006. This amount included 340 863 tonnes of pig meat, 78 863 tonnes of beef, 465 tonnes of veal, 212 tonnes of sheep meat, 68 tonnes of horse meat and 205 826 tonnes of poultry meat.

Pig meat production went up by 2.4 % compared to the previous year. The production kept on increase in all quarters of the year .

Agricultural producer prices of pigs for slaughter kept on decrease throughout the year. The highest drop of pig prices saw April (index 89.6). The average price of pigs for slaughter declined by 7.6% in 2007 compared to 2006. The average price of the E and U-quality pigs for slaughter reached CZK 28.85 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 37.62 per kilogram in carcass weight in 2007.

According to the preliminary results of foreign trade ¹⁾ statistics, trade in live pigs ended in surplus of 8 572 tonnes in a period from the 1st December 2006 to the 30th November 2007. Imports of live pigs (for slaughter and piglets) amounted to 5 923 tonnes and exports totaled 14 495 tonnes. Amount of imports as well as exports was approximately the same as in 2006. Pigs were imported predominantly from Germany (38%), the Netherlands (29%), Denmark (19%) and Slovakia (13%). Imports went primarily to Germany (46%) and Slovakia (42%).

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in pig meat production ended in passive trade balance 99 304 tonnes in the same period. Imports in total amounted to 126 715 tonnes and exports totaled 27 411 tonnes of meat. Imports of pig meat increased by 9.0% and exports went up by 27.0% y-o-y. Pig meat was imported primarily from Germany (43%), Austria (16%) and Poland (16%) and to a lesser extent from the Netherlands (7%) and Spain (7%). Exports went largely to Slovakia (81%) and to a lesser amount to Germany (7%).

Beef incl. veal production increased by 0.2% y-o-y. Meat production alternatively increased and decreased in quarters of the year.

Prices of agricultural producers of cattle for slaughter declined in all categories y-o-y: for bulls for slaughter by 3.6%, for heifers for slaughter by 1.7%, for cows for slaughter by 0.3% and for calves for slaughter by 0.1% y-o-y.

The average price of bulls for slaughter the E and U-quality reached CZK 39.84 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 76.58 per kilogram in carcass weight in 2007.

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in live cattle (cattle for slaughter and calves) ended in surplus of 36 215 tonnes in the period from the 1st December of 2006 to the 30th November of 2007. Imports in total amounted to 1 853 tonnes and imports totaled 38 068 tonnes of live cattle. Imports increased by 79.0% and exports went down by 3.2%. The highest amount of live cattle was imported from Slovakia (62%), less from Romania (12%), Italy (9%) and Germany (8%). Exports went to Austria (44%), Germany (17%), Italy (7%)., Slovenia (6%) and Greece (10%).

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in beef ended in a passive trade balance (–13 033 tonnes) in the period from the 1st December of 2006 to the 30th November of 2007. Beef imports amounted to 16 796 tonnes and exports totaled 3 763 tonnes of meat. Beef imports increased by 1.7% and exports went up by 75.7% y-o-y. Beef was imported predominantly from Germany (22%), Poland (19%) and Austria (18%), to a lesser extent from Ireland (13%) and Slovakia (12%). Beef exports went largely to Slovakia (48%), Austria (24%), Poland (13%) and Germany (10%).

Poultry meat production went down by 4.8 % in 2007 y-o-y. The decrease in poultry meat production influenced a decrease in total meat production. Poultry meat production kept on decrease in all months of the year, except for October and November.

Prices of the 1st-quality chicken for slaughter started to rise from March (compared to the same month of the previous year) and reached the highest level in December (index 124.6). The average price of the 1st- quality chicken rose by 9.2% y-o-y in 2007. The average price of the 1st- quality chicken reached CZK 20,98 per kilogram in live weight.

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in live poultry ended in a surplus of 28 136 tonnes in the period from the 1st December of 2006 to the 30th November of 2007. Imports of live poultry amounted to 5 775 tonnes and exports totaled 33 911 tonnes. Imports of live poultry went down almost to a half, on the contrary imports increased by 23.3%. y-o-y. A highest amount of live poultry (74%) was imported from Slovakia, less of the amount from Hungary (14%) and Germany (7%). Exports went predominantly to Germany (49%), Poland (40%) and Slovakia (7%).

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in poultry meat ended in a passive trade balance –29 450 tonnes. Imports in total amounted to 50 839 tonnes and exports totaled 21 389 tonnes of poultry meat. Imports of poultry meat went down by 16.6% and exports decreased by 5.4%. Poultry meat was imported mainly from Poland (29%), Brazil (18%), Germany (13%), Slovakia (13%) and the Netherlands (11%). Exports went predominantly to Slovakia (48%) and Germany (20%), to a lesser amount to the Netherlands (10%), Hungary (8%) and Austria (7%).

Milk collection to dairies amounted to 2 390 million litres in 2007, which was more by 2.6% compared to 2006. Milk quotas have limited milk production (and also dairy cow numbers) since accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. According to the livestock census as of the 1st April of 2007, dairy cow numbers went down by 3.2% to 410 thous. heads.

Agricultural producer prices of the Q-quality milk kept on decrease from January to June 2007 y-o-y. A turn became in the second half of the year. Prices have started to climb progressively since July and maximum reached in the last month of the year (index 128.0). The average price of the Q-quality milk rose by 4.5% y-o-y and reached CZK 8.22 per liter in 2007.

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in milk and milk products ended in active trade balance 465.5 thous. tonnes in the period from the 1st December of 2006 to the 30th November of 2007. Imports of milk and milk products amounted to 309.8 thous. tonnes and exports totaled 775.3 thous. tonnes. Exports of milk and milk products went up by 27.3% and imports increased by 10.2% y-o-y. Milk and milk products were imported in particular from Slovakia (49%), Germany (27%) and Poland (15%). Exports went predominantly to Germany (59%) and Slovakia (17%).

____
1) For Intra-Community trade excl. data under Intrastat statistics threshold (annual value of goods -CZK 2 mil. for receipt, CZK 4 mil. for dispatch)

Text not edited for language

---

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 December 2007 (CZSO).
Milk collection and purchase of poultry – survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Date of completing data collection: 10 January 2008
Date of completing data processing: 24 January 2008
Published data are final with the exception of foreign trade data.
Following tables: /archives_of_publications