Austrian net production of pigs will fall by 0.6% this year to 4.68 million tonnes. These figuers were released by the Austrian agriculture ministry.
Experts from the ministry, quoting figures from the December 1 2006 livestock census from Statistik Austria also said that export trade in pigs and pigmeat increased dramatically last year.
The domestic pig herd consisted of approximately 3.14 million head on that date, down around 0.9% in comparison with the first of December in 2005.
Commercial pig slaughterings in 2006 reached some 5.28 million head, up 0.8% year-on-year with domestic slaughterings adding a further 83,400 head to the total.
Trade in live pigs and pigmeat showed, as in the years before, a marked increase, rising by 10.8% to 749,000 head, but in contrast, live pig exports fell by 3.9% to 93,000 head.
Pig meat imports reached 1.41 million tonnes in 2006, down 2.2% year-on-year, while exports increased 6% to 2.04 million tonnes.
Net production reached 4.71 million head in 2006, down around 0.8% year-on-year and the producer price for pigs grew on average by 6% in the course of the year.
Related website:
• Austrian ministry for agriculture, forestry, environment and water management
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