In 2006:

• Domestic hog production in Canada reached 24.3 million head; in 1990, this number was 14 million.
• Canada's cattle slaughter decreased to 3.3 million head, down from 3.7 million in 2005.
• Canada exported $2.5 billion of pork to over 130 countries.
• Canada exported $1.3 billion of beef to over 110 countries.
• Canada's per capita consumption of all meat and poultry products experienced a slight gain in 2006.
• The meat processing industry, with shipments of $20.3 billion in 2005, is the largest sector of the food manufacturing industry.

HIGHLIGHTS AND COMMENTS CANADIAN LIVESTOCK AND MEAT INDUSTRY

Pork & Hogs

Hog Output

Pork Exports

Pork Imports

Beef & Cattle

Cattle Slaughter

Cattle Exports to United States

Beef Export

Beef Imports

Lamb, Veal, Horse and Poultry

Lamb: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

Veal: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

Horse: Slaughter and Exports

Poultry: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

Industry Statistics

Meat Trade

Meat Consumption

Food Industry Sales

Meat Industry

Manufacturing Industries

Hog Output

Canadian hog output (domestic slaughter plus live exports) is estimated at 24.3 million head in 2006, a decrease of 2.3% from the 2005 output. Canada's federal and provincial hog slaughter has also decreased over the past year, by approximately 2.4%.

Quebec led all provinces in production with 7.8 million hogs, followed by Ontario at 4.5 million, Manitoba at 4.3 million and Alberta at 3.3 million.

Slaughter hog exports to the U.S. totalled 2.71 million head, a small decrease from the 2.74 million in 2005. Feeder pig exports saw an increase in 2006, with 5.8 million head exported compared to 5.2 million head in 2005.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1) (2)

Note: Hog export data is based on U.S. sources.  Canadian data is from federally and provincially inspected establishments.

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Pork Exports

Canada's pork exports were consistent with the previous year's total, reaching 1.03 million tonnes.

Sales to the U.S., the largest export market for Canadian pork, are estimated at 362,778 tonnes, down almost 7% from the previous year. This represents about 35% of Canada's total pork exports; 14 years ago, the U.S. accounted for over 90% of Canada's pork exports.

Japan, our second largest market, purchased about 218,204 tonnes, down over 18% from a year ago but still a 7% gain from 2004 figures. This quantity represents 21% of the total value.

The total value of Canadian pork exports in 2006 is $2.5 billion, down from $2.8 billion a year ago.

Key global markets, based on 2005 and 2006 purchases, are shown below.

Detailed export statistics, including tonnage and value in Canadian dollars, follow:

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Pork Imports

Canadian pork imports are estimated at 108,862 tonnes (+ 5.8%) in 2006, mainly from the U.S. (107,403 tonnes) and Denmark (300 tonnes).

Export and Imports (Tonnage)

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1)

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Cattle Slaughter

Canadian federally-inspected cattle slaughter decreased in 2006 to 3.3 million head slaughtered, down from 3.7 million head a year ago.

In provincially-inspected plants, the number of cattle slaughtered in 2006 was at 232,759 head. This marks a significant decrease (26%) from the 2005 level of 274,125 head.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Cattle Exports to United States

The number of live cattle exported to the US at the end of 2006 reached 1,030,960 head.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Beef Exports

Beef exports decreased by 28% in value and 20% in tonnage in 2006. The value of Canada's beef and veal exports is $1.33 billion, down from $1.85 billion a year earlier. Tonnage is projected at 368,097 tonnes, down from 458,384 in 2005.

Shipments to the U.S. are estimated at 302,899 tonnes, a decrease of over 20% from 2005, but still representing the majority of Canadian exports at 82% of total Canadian exports. Major buyers in 2006 are indicated in the table below.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Beef Imports

Beef imports were an estimated 126,353 tonnes in 2006, up from 107,513 the year earlier. Shipments from the U.S. doubled again in 2006 to 81,981 tonnes; imports from Australia and New Zealand remained at consistent levels.

The Beal and Veal Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for 2006 remained at 76,409 tonnes for non-NAFTA countries, at a tariff of 26.5%.

Details of the Tariff Rate Quota distribution follows (all numbers in tonnes):

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1) (2)

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Lamb: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

• Canada's federally inspected sheep and lamb slaughter was at 149,302 head in 2006, a decrease of 7% from the 160,284 head slaughtered in 2005.
• Imports of mutton and lamb increased by 12% to 17,045 tonnes.
• Exports of dressed lamb reached 62 tonnes in 2006; this is three times the amount of lamb exported in 2005.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1) (2) (3)

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Veal: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

• Canada's federally inspected calf slaughter decreased by approximately 8% to 245,293 head in 2006.
• Veal imports rose to 3,769 tonnes, an increase of 60% from the previous year.
• Exports of dressed veal reached 79 tonnes in 2006; this is a marked decrease from the 13, 377 tonnes exported in 2005.  There was no veal exported to the US in 2006.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1) (2) (3)

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Horse: Slaughter and Exports

• Horse slaughter numbered 50,242 in federally and provincially inspected plants in 2006.  This is up slightly from the previous year, but a significant decrease from the 65,029 slaughter number in 2002.
• 10,475 metric tonnes of horse meat were exported in 2006.  France is the largest export market for horse products, with 3,817 tonnes exported last year.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1)

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Poultry: Slaughter, Imports and Exports

• In 2006, the poultry slaughter numbers were as follows: for chicken, 602.6 million head; for mature chicken, 24.5 million head; for turkey, 21.1 million head; for ducks & geese, 5.2 million head.
• Imports of poutry in 2006 numbered 27.5 million kg.
• Exports of poultry in 2006 numbered 90.7 million kg.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1) (2) Slaughter: (3) (4) (5) (6)

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Meat Trade

Canada's meat exports were an estimated $3.9 billion this past year, according to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and live animal exports were an estimated $2.0 billion.

Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Meat Consumption

Statistics Canada reports that the red meat and poultry available per capita, both adjusted for losses (consumption) and not (disappearance), increased slightly in 2006.  Beef continues to be the meat group with the highest per capita consumption, followed by chicken.

Disappearance is defined as the product available for consumption, while consumption is an estimate of the product actually consumed by the population.

Source: Canada Food Statistics 2006

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Food Industry Sales

The meat and poultry industry had annual shipments of $20.3 billion in 2005.

Sales of other major food industries in 2005 follow:

Source: Statistics Canada Special Printout (ASML) and Canada Food Stats 2007 (MSM)

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Meat Industry

According to the Statistics Canada Annual Survey of Manufacturers and Logginh, Canada's meat industry had shipments of $20.3 billion in 2005.

Source: Statistics Canada Special Printout (ASML)

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Manufacturing Industries

With revenue from good manufactured of $20.3 billion in 2005 (the last year for which data is available for all industries), the meat and poultry industry is positioned among Canada's most important manufacturing industries.  Meat and poultry revenues rank 11th overall.

A sampling of some leading industries follows:

Statistics Canada definition:

*Revenue from goods manufactured: Revenue from sale of goods manufactured using materials owned by the establishment, from repair work, and revenue from manufacturing service charges and work contracted out to other establishments.

**Value added, manufacturing activity:
Value added by manufacturing activity is equal to the value of shipments of goods of an establishment's own manufacture, taking into account the net change in goods-in-process and finished product inventories, minus the cost of materials and supplies, the cost of purchased fuel and electricity used, and the amounts paid for work contracted out to other establishments.

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