News Releases - Agriculture - 2 quarter

Y-o-y decrease in meat production and milk collection continued in the 2nd quarter of 2009 (by 7.1% and 1.5%, respectively). 141 375 tonnes of meat in carcass weight were produced in total. This amount included 50.9% of pig meat, 13.4% of beef incl. veal and 35.7% of poultry meat.

Slaughter and meat production

Numbers of cattle slaughtered incl. calves decreased by 2.0% y-o-y; of which numbers of bulls slaughtered went down by 13.3% whereas numbers of cows and heifers slaughtered increased (by 5.9% and 18.9%, respectively). Average carcass weight of cattle went down by 3.7% to 284.9 kg. As a result, beef production inc. veal decreased by 5.7% y-o-y.

Numbers of pigs slaughtered went down by 8.8% y-o-y, while their average carcass weight stood unchanged in comparison with the same period of the previous year (87.4 kg). Production of pig meat declined by 8.8% y-o-y.

Production of poultry meat dropped by 5.2% y-o-y.


Results of cattle, pigs and poultry rearing

According to the livestock census, cattle numbers decreased as of 1 April 2009 by 2.7% to 1,363.2 thousand heads y-o-y, of which cow numbers declined by 1.6% to 559.8 thousand heads.

Pig numbers went down significantly y-o-y, by 19.0% (by 462 thousand heads) to 1,971.4 thousand heads, of which sow numbers dropped by 20.6% to 142.3 thousand heads.

Total numbers of poultry went down by 3.0% to 26.5 million heads as of the same date.


Agricultural producers’ prices of cattle, pigs and chicken for slaughter

Agricultural producers’ prices of cattle for slaughter increased for bulls and cows (by 3.8% and 0,6%, respectively). On the other hand prices of cows and calves for slaughter declined y-o-y (by 2.1% and 7.1%, respectively). Average price of bulls for slaughter in S,E,U-quality reached CZK 41.23 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 76.52 per kilogram in carcass weight.

Agricultural producers’ prices of pigs for slaughter went up by 3.8% y-o-y. Average price of pigs for slaughter in S, E, U-quality rose to the level of CZK 30.78 per kilogram in live weight and CZK 39.93 per kilogram in carcass weight.

Prices of agricultural producers of chicken for slaughter in the 1st-quality category decreased by 11.5% y-o-y. Average price of chicken in the 1st-quality category reached the level CZK 20.82 per kilogram in live weight.


Foreign trade in meat and live animals

According to preliminary results, foreign trade ¹⁾ in meat ended in a passive trade balance 2,878 tonnes for beef, 33,362 tonnes for pig meat and 14,563 tonnes for poultry meat in the period from 1 March 2009 to 31 May 2009.

Beef imports went up by 40.0% (by 1 215 tonnes) y-o-y, on the other hand exports decreased by 3.8% (by 55 tonnes). Beef was imported predominantly from Poland (48%) and to a lesser extent from Germany (16%) and Austria (14%). Exports went to Slovakia (32%), Austria (20%), the Netherlands (15%) and Poland (11%).

Imports of pig meat went up by 30.7% (by 9,994 tonnes) and exports increased by 12.1% (by 994 tonnes) y-o-y. Almost a half of pig meat imported came from Germany (48%), a lesser amount was imported from Austria (14%), Spain (9%) and Poland (8%). Majority of export went to Slovakia (89%).

Imports of poultry meat went up by 23.0% (by 3,871 tonnes) and exports increased by 21.2% (by 1,069 tonnes) y-o-y. Poultry meat was imported largely from Poland (42%) and to a lesser extent from Brazil (12%), France (12%) and Slovakia (11%). Meat was exported predominantly to Slovakia (41%), Germany (18%) and Hungary (17%).

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in live animals ended in an active trade balance 10,234 tonnes for cattle and 8,551 tonnes for poultry. On the other hand foreign trade in live pigs ended in a passive trade balance 3,062 tonnes.

Imports of live cattle went up by 9.0% (by 54 tonnes) whereas exports went down by 8.6% (by 1,027 tonnes) y-o-y. Live cattle were imported largely from Slovakia (91%), exports went predominantly to Austria (56%) and to a lesser extent to Germany (11%) and Croatia (9%).

Imports of live pigs increased by 168.0% (by 3,305 tonnes) whereas exports decreased by more than half (by 2,691 tonnes) y-o-y. Pigs were imported largely from Germany (41%), the Netherlands (25%) and Denmark (23%). Pig exports were destined predominantly for Slovakia (51%) and Hungary (36%).

Imports in live poultry increased by 65.7% (by 709 tonnes) and exports went up by 11.2% (by 1,043 tonnes) y-o-y. Live poultry were imported predominantly from Slovakia (75%) and Germany (22%), exports went to Germany (57%), Poland (22%) and Slovakia (17%).

Milk collection and agricultural producers’ prices of milk

Milk collected to dairies stood practically at 600 million litres in the 2nd quarter 2009. Milk collection went down by 1.5% compared to the same period of the previous year.

A drop in agricultural producers’ prices of milk continued in the 2nd quarter of 2009. Average agricultural producers’ price of Q-quality milk dropped by 33.9% y-o-y. The average price of Q-quality milk reached CZK 6.09 per litre.


Foreign trade in milk and milk products

Foreign trade ¹⁾ in milk and milk products ended in active trade balance 141.5 thousands tonnes in the period from 1 March 2009 to 31 May 2009 due to a high amount of raw milk exports (incl. cream). Imports of milk and milk products went down by 4.8% (by 3.8 thousands tonnes) and exports increased by 3.0% (by 6.3 thousand tonnes) y-o-y. Milk and milk products were imported predominantly from Germany (36%), Slovakia (35%), Poland (21%) and exported largely to Germany (60%), Slovakia (12%), Italy (8%) and Hungary (7%).

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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). The threshold values have been raised as of 1 January 2009 to CZK 8 mil. for both dispatched and arrived goods. However, the providers of statistical information, who exceeded the exemption threshold 2 or 4 millions CZK in 2008 are obliged to continue declaring Intrastat data in 2009 as well.

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Methodical note:
Contact person: Jiří Hrbek, phone 27405 2331, e-mail: jiri.hrbek@csu.gov.cz
Source: full survey on livestock slaughter carried out by the Czech Statistical Office, Agricultural Producer Price Indices in June of 2009 (CZSO).
Milk collection and purchase of poultry – survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Date of completing data collection: 10 July 2009
Date of completing data processing: 27 July 2009
Published data are final with exception of foreign trade data.
Following tables: http://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/katalog-produktu