Beef herd and egg production hit record in 2021, says IBGE

The Brazilian cattle herd hit a record in 2021, with 224.6 million head of cattle, surpassing the 218.2 million mark in 2016, according to a survey released this Thursday (22) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). . In relation to 2020, the growth was 3.1%.

Mato Grosso remained the national leader, with 32.4 million animals, 14.4% of the national herd, followed by Goiás, with 10.8%. Research analyst Mariana Oliveira assesses that 2021 was marked by the retention of females for calf production.

Regarding the production value of the main livestock products (milk, chicken and quail eggs, honey, silkworm cocoons and wool), the sum was BRL 91.4 billion in 2021, with the milk production concentrated 75.4% of the amount.

Milk production remained stable compared to 2020, with 35.3 billion liters last year. The average price paid to the producer per liter of milk reached R$ 1.93, an increase of 21%. This same index was registered in the growth of production value, which reached R$ 68.2 billion.

“The variation was mainly an attempt to keep up with the increase in production costs, a behavior that had already been observed in 2020”, said Mariana Oliveira.

The South leads in the milk segment, as had already happened in 2014 and 2018. However, only the Northeast, the third region in the ranking, had a production growth of 12.8%. The increase was noted for the fifth year in a row due to investments and weather conditions. In relation to states, Minas Gerais occupies the first place.

The production of chicken eggs accounts for 23.9% of the R$ 91.4 billion of the national production value. The segment grew 1.7%, reaching 4.8 billion dozens, a number that surpassed the 2020 record. The Southeast represents 40.4% of the origin of eggs, even with a drop of 4% compared to the previous year.

A historic mark was also reached by the swine herd, which grew 3.2% in 2021 and totaled 42.5 million animals, half of this number concentrated in the southern region of the country.
Fish farming also reached the highest level in the series, with 59 thousand tons and R$ 4.7 billion in production value. Tilapia represents 39.7% of the total.