South Korea's Beef Cattle Numbers Drop 4.9% in Q1 Amid Declining Fertile Cows
Milk cows, pigs, and ducks also decrease year-on-year, while broiler chicken numbers rise
Quick Look
- South Korea's beef cattle population fell 4.9% year-on-year to 3.22 million in Q1 2025, driven by a continued decline in fertile cows, according to government data.
- Milk cows decreased 1.7% to 371,000, pigs dropped 0.7% to 10.7 million, and ducks fell 15.9% to 5.3 million.
- Layer chickens declined 0.3% to 77.8 million due to avian influenza culling, while broiler chickens rose 2.7% to 96.5 million.
AI-generated summary
SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of beef cattle fell on-year in the first quarter amid a continued drop in fertile cows, government data showed Friday. South Korean farms raised 3.22 million beef cattle as of March 1, down 4.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The number of milk cows also fell by 1.7 percent on-year to 371,000. Pigs being grown in the country inched down by 0.7 percent to 10.7 million, while duck numbers contracted even more by 15.9 percent to 5.3 million. The number of layer chickens declined 0.3 percent on-year to 77.8 million, but the figure for broiler chickens rose 2.7 percent to 96.5 million. Layer chicken numbers declined as many of them were culled due to the avian influenza epidemic, the ministry added.
