LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION, 2020

Increase in export in cattle farming

In 2020, as compared to the previous year, the increase of cattle went up by 1.2%, that is, by about 900 tonnes. In the same period, the total number of calves brought forth decreased by one thousand head
(by 0.8%). The total number of slaughtered cattle, that is, slaughtered head, decreased by 13 thousand, while the net weight decreased by about 2 thousand tonnes (by 4.5%).

Along with the decrease in the total number of dairy cows in 2020, the total production of cows’ milk decreased by 0.5%, as compared to the same period of the previous year.

The total export of cattle in 2020 increased by 20.5%, while their total import decreased by 4 thousand head (by 2.8%).

Production decrease in pig farming

In 2020, the increase of pigs in pig farming declined by 10.6%, accompanied by a decrease in the number of slaughtered pigs of 6.7% and in their net weight of 8.7%. The number of piglets brought forth decreased by about 33 thousand head (by 2.2%) in 2020, as compared to the previous year.

As regards foreign trade in 2020, the export of pigs of all categories was higher than in the previous year (by 20.4%), while the total import increased (by 2.7%).

Decrease in milk production in sheep farming

The increase of sheep went up by 20.7%, that is, by about 1.9 thousand tonnes compared to 2019, while the total number of lambs brought forth decreased by about 29 thousand head (by 6.5%). The total number of slaughtered sheep decreased by 34 thousand head (by 7.3%), that is, by about 400 tonnes of net weight (by 7.7%).

The production of sheep’s milk decreased by 2.2%, while the production of wool decreased by 10.4%.

Sheep import decreased by 37.4% and export by 55.6% in 2020, as compared to the previous year.

Production increase in goat farming

The increase of goats was 43.4% higher than in the previous year, while the number of kids brought forth increased by 10.7%. The number of slaughtered goats increased by 8.2%, and their net weight by 9.5%.

The production of goats’ milk increased by 5.1%.

In 2020, concerning goat farming, the total foreign trade was statistically insignificant.

Increase in hens' egg production

Concerning the production of poultry in 2020, as compared to 2019, the number of hatched chicks increased by 4.3%, while the increase of poultry went up slightly, by 0.6%. The total number of slaughtered poultry decreased by 0.7% (about 310 thousand head), while their net weight increased by 1.4% (about 1.1 thousand tonnes).

An increase of 11.1% was recorded in the production of hens’ eggs, while the production of eggs of other poultry increased by 19.3%.

In 2020, the total import of poultry decreased by 4.9% and their export increased by 31.6% compared to 2019.

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Sources and methods of data collection

Data on the number of livestock and poultry as well as on livestock production are collected separately for legal entities and parts thereof and separately for private family farms.

Data collected on these farms include data on the number and weight of livestock and poultry, balance of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry, balance of eggs, balance of milk on private family farms, milk production (cows’, sheep’s and goats’), wool and eggs.

Data for business entities are collected in two ways: on reports that are submitted to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics by postal service and via a web application filled in by reporting units themselves.

Data for private family farms were collected by using the CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) method applied to a selected stratified sample. The sample has been selected on the basis of the Statistical Register of Agricultural Holdings and numbers approximately 7 000 units.

The expanded data were compared to data from previous years and to available administrative sources (Unique Register of Domestic Animals kept by the Ministry of Agriculture). On the basis of all available data, corrections were done when necessary.

Data on export and import of livestock are taken over from the External Trade in Goods Statistics Department.

The methodology for carrying out the livestock survey is based on the Regulation (EC) No. 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics, the Commission Regulation (EC) No. 617/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing the Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007 as regarding marketing standards for eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks and on the Methodological Basis for Gathering Data on Milk and Dairy Products Statistics (NN, No. 42/13).

Coverage and comparability

Reporting units are business entities and parts thereof defined in section A Agriculture, forestry and fishing according to the National Classification of Activities, 2007 version (NN, Nos 58/07 and 72/07) as well as other business entities and parts thereof engaged in the production of livestock but classified elsewhere.

Reporting units are also private family farms engaged in the production of livestock and poultry. The sample of the Annual Report on Livestock Production of 1 December 2020 was selected from the Statistical Register of Agricultural Holdings.

Confidentiality

Aggregate data for which there are reasons for confidentiality (small number of units, the dominance rule or secondary confidentiality rule), in accordance with the Official Statistics Act (NN, No. 25/20) and the Ordinance on the Statistical Data Protection Method, are treated as confidential and therefore are not published.

Definitions

Increase of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry is calculated by adding the difference in the weight of export and import to the weight of slaughtered livestock and the difference of the weight of the herd at the end and at the beginning of a reference period.

Newborns. Calved, farrowed, lambed, kidded, hatched. It comprises the total number of obtained live-born offspring of livestock and poultry (calves, piglets, lambs, kids, chicks).

Milk. The production of cows’, sheep’s and goats’ milk in legal entities as well as on private family farms is presented. The total milked quantity in a reference period is presented, irrespective of the way of milking.

Total slaughtering. Covers all livestock and poultry slaughtered on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, irrespective of origin. It represents the sum of livestock and poultry slaughtered in abattoirs and livestock and poultry slaughtered at legal entities (compulsory slaughtering) and on private family farms.

Trimmed wool. Quantities of trimmed (clipped) wool from grown up sheep and tags (matted wool and cropped wool) are reported as raw wool.

Eggs production. Data on the total number of laid eggs by all categories of hens and other kinds of poultry (eggs for setting and eggs for human consumption) are reported.

Losses. Data on the number of livestock and poultry (offspring and adult head) that died due to infectious diseases, exhaustion and accidents as well as on the number of head missing or killed, whose meat is not suitable for human consumption because of diseases, are reported.

Abbreviations

Symbols

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