During the third quarter of 2009, 1.9 million tons of meat were produced; this was 1.8 percent more than in the same quarter of 2008. The rise was due to a distinct increase in poultry production.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that between July and September 2009, poultry production rose by 5,0 percent over the comparable period in the previous year, to 330,220 t. At 17.3 percent of all commercial meat produced, poultry consumption thus reached its highest levels
ever.
After production of young slaughter poultry had already increased in the previous months, the trend continued in the third quarter of 2009. In contrast to the amounts produced in quarter three of 2008, a significant expansion of slaughter poultry production was seen (+6.8 percent, to 193,100 t). From July through September, 111,400 t of turkey were produced, or 2.4 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. Although at lower levels, the production of duck meat likewise grew: to 15,900 t, an increase of 10.4 percent.
Not counting poultry, meat production from commercial slaughtering only increased 1.1 percent more than during the third quarter of 2008, to not quite 1.6 million tons. Broken down by type of meat, 1.3 million tons of pork were produced, followed by 290,000 t of beef, 4,600 t of lamb and 650 t of goat and horse meat.
In regard to pork production, the amount slaughtered rose by 2,0 percent over the amount slaughtered during the third quarter of 2008. Contributing to this increase was a rise in commercially slaughtered animals that had been raised domestically (+375,000 animals). In contrast, there was a drop in the number of foreign-bred animals slaughtered (–167,000 animals) for the first time since the second quarter of 2006. All in all, 13.9 million pigs were commercially slaughtered (+1.5 percent).
In contrast to poultry and pork, the amount of beef slaughtered decreased by 6,800 tons over the third quarter of 2008 (–2.3 percent). The overall number of slaughtered beef cattle, however, remained nearly constant (–0.3 percent). The increased number of slaughtered cows (+4.5 percent) was noticeable. This might have been the result of the very low prices for milk.
