Statistics Korea Releases '2020 Q4 Livestock Trend Survey'
Korean Beef Cattle Continue to Increase...Record Highs Broken Again
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), the number of pigs raised domestically decreased again within just one quarter. Meanwhile, the number of Korean beef cattle steadily increased, setting a new all-time high record.
According to the "2020 4th Quarter Livestock Trend Survey" released on the 21st by Statistics Korea and the Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Service, the number of pigs raised in the 4th quarter of last year (as of December 1) was recorded at 11.078 million.
This represents a 1.8% (202,000 heads) decrease compared to the same period the previous year. Compared to the previous quarter, it decreased by 2.5% (287,000 heads).
Pig numbers had shown a decline for three consecutive quarters since the 3rd quarter of 2019 (as of September 1, 2019), when it was 11.713 million heads, but increased to 11.365 million heads in the 3rd quarter of last year after four quarters. This time, it dropped again to the 11 million range.
After the first confirmed case of ASF in Korea on September 17, 2019, the number of pigs raised sharply decreased due to mass culling of pigs on some farms.
Recently, ASF-infected wild boar carcasses were found on the 20th in places such as Inje and Yangyang in Gangwon Province, and the increase in recent outbreaks is believed to have influenced the reduction in the number of pigs raised.
The number of sows was 1.001 million, down 2.4% (24,000 heads) compared to the same period last year and down 0.8% (8,000 heads) compared to the previous quarter.
The number of pig farms decreased by 55 households (0.9%) compared to the same period last year and by 102 households (1.7%) compared to the previous quarter.
The number of Korean beef cattle raised was 3.774 million heads, up 3.5% (129,000 heads) compared to the same period last year but down 1.8% (69,000 heads) compared to the previous quarter. This is the highest figure since Statistics Korea began publishing related statistics in 1983.
The number of dairy cows was 410,000, increasing by 0.4% (2,000 heads) compared to one year ago and by 0.4% (2,000 heads) compared to the previous quarter.
The number of broilers, raised for chicken meat production, was 94.835 million, up 6.9% (6.096 million heads) compared to the same period last year and up 7.5% (6.631 million heads) compared to the previous quarter.
The number of laying hens for egg production was 72.58 million, down 0.2% (121,000 heads) compared to the same period last year and down 1.7% (1.273 million heads) compared to the previous quarter.
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