SEOUL — The number of broiler chickens raised in South Korea fell 5.2 percent on-year in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, data showed Friday, amid concerns over the spread of avian influenza.
South Korean farms raised 88.71 million broilers in the fourth quarter of 2022, down 4.89 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The agency said the decrease was blamed on the concerns over avian influenza in some regions, coupled with the rising prices of chicks.
Meanwhile, the number of egg-laying hens rose 2.2 percent over the period to reach 74.18 million, the data showed.
Those of beef cattle came to 3.69 million over the October-December period, up 2.9 percent on-year, the agency added. The figure, however, fell 1.6 percent from the previous quarter on the recent decline in their prices.
The growing production costs also led to a 2.7 percent on-year decrease in the number of milk cows, which reached 390,000.
The number of pigs edged down 0.8 percent on-year to 11.2 million in the fourth quarter, the data showed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency