Monday, July 7, 2008

Brazil slaughtering fewer cattle in '08

A 10 percent decrease in cattle slaughtered year-over-year in the first quarter of 2008 signals Brazil will slaughter fewer cattle this year compared with 2007, an official at Brazil's IBGE statistics told Dow Jones.

"The problem is caused by the lack of animals," said Octavio Costa de Oliveira, IBGE's manager for livestock research.

The firm's latest research indicates Brazil slaughtered 7.1 million head of cattle in the first quarter of 2008, a 10 percent decline from the first quarter of 2007.

DeOliveira added that beef exports dropped 27.6 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago.

He noted, however, that higher prices more than offset lower export volume. Beef export revenues increased by 5.2 percent in the quarter, as beef prices averaged $3,528 per ton in the first quarter versus $2,426 during the same period in 2007.

No comments: