The weight of cattle carcass accumulated in the first three months of year 2012 (1.681 million metric tons) was 3.9% below that recorded in the 4^th quarter of 2011 and 2.4% above that recorded in the same period of 2011. The average weight of carcasses (232.9 kg/carcass unit) was 4.5 kg below that of the previous quarter and 1.7 kg above that of the 1^st quarter of 2011.

In the 1^st quarter of 2012, a total 1,365 cattle slaughtering informants, distributed among all the Federation Units, took part in the survey. The Central West region accounted for 38.5% of the slaughter, being ahead of the North (20.8%), Southeast (19.2%), South (11.4%) and Northeast (10.2%). This is the second consecutive semester in which the Northeast region surpasses the Southeast in terms of cattle slaughter, mainly due to the successive decreases in São Paulo and to the increase of slaughter in Rondônia. 

Slaughter of hogs and pigs decreased by 4.9% overt the Q4 2011

The weight of carcasses accumulated in the 1^st quarter of 2012 (830.106 thousand metric tons) was 4.9% lower than that of the immediately previous quarter and 4.4% higher than that of the same period of 2011. A total 818 informants took part in the survey. Rondônia, Amazonas and Amapá were the only Federation Units where the slaughter of hogs and pigs was not under any kind of sanitary inspection.

The South region accounted for 66.4% of the national slaughter of hogs and pigs, followed by the Southeast (16.7%), Central West (15.7%), Northeast (1.2%) and North (0.1%).  All the Federation Units of the South, Southeast (except Espírito Santo) and Central West recorded increase of cattle head slaughtered in the comparison between first quarters in 2012 and 2011.  

South Region leads slaughter of chickens with almost 60% of the national total

The weight of carcasses accumulated in the 1^st quarter of 2012 (2.949 million metric tons) was 3.2 and 6.2% bigger than in the immediately previous quarter and in the 1^st quarter of 2011, respectively. A total 416 informants took part in the survey. Roraima, Amapá, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte are the only Federation Units lacking a record of chicken slaughter under sanitary inspection.

From January to March 2012, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul represented 58.8% of the total slaughter, and were the three main Federation Units in the national ranking. The biggest absolute increases in relation to the same period in the previous year were recorded in Paraná, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais, which produced an increment of, respectively, 29.2, 10.5, 10.1 and 9.5 million carcasses of chicken.  

Acquisition of leather recorded increase throughout Q1 2012  

Acquisition of leather remained on an upward trend throughout the 1^st quarter of 2012. It was observed that only 26.9% of all the product acquired was received for rendering of tanning services.  Most of the leather came from slaughterhouses (63.0%) and only 7.2% from intermediaries. 

In terms of state results, the biggest acquisition of whole cattle leather pieces occurred

in Mato Grosso (18.4%), São Paulo (12.7%) and Rio Grande do Sul (10.3%), in the 1^st

quarter of 2012. In the comparison of state results with the same period in 2011, there was significant decrease of total acquisition in Rio Grande do Sul (-25.0%), by about 289.510 units.  

Production of hen’s eggs increases by 8.2% over Q1 2011

In Q1 2012, the production of hen’s eggs, 671.176 million dozen eggs, represented increases of 8.2% and 1.4%, relative to the 1^st and 4^th quarters of 2011.  There has been growing production throughout the series starting from the 1^st quarter of 2006, except for the period which covers from the 3^rd quarter of 2006 to the 1^st one of 2007. São Paulo is the state with the biggest production, representing 29.3% of the national total; Minas Gerais is the 2^nd main producer, with 11%.

The biggest positive change in production took place in February (9.1%).  In terms of number of chickens on the last day of the month, January recorded the biggest monthly change, and that result remained positive in all the months of the quarter.

All the Major Regions recorded significant increase of production of eggs, with the biggest positive change (16.6%) in the Central West (Mato Grosso recorded 27.0% of this increase). The state of Rio de Janeiro held the biggest increase of production, despite the small national participation (0.2%).  São Paulo recorded increment of 10.1% (18 million dozens of the product), above all the North Region (16 492 thousand dozens). Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District were the only ones to record decrease in production, respectively, of 0.9% and 1.2%.

A total 1 552 informants distributed among all the Federation Units, except for Amapá, Tocantins and Maranhão, took part in the survey.