In productiondata, meat is normally reported inclusive of bone and exclusive ofmeat that is unfit for human consumption. All FAO annual production datarefer to total production. The concept varies widely from country to country and according to the various species of livestock. Production from the slaughter of indigenous animals plus exportsof live indigenous animals during the reference period. The biological production concept covers indigenous animals thatare either slaughtered or exported live, plus net additions to thestock during the reference period.
Production is expressed in terms of live weight.
Changes in the totallive weight of all animals are not taken into account. FAO uses the first concept of meat production in the construction ofits food balance sheets and for related indicators. The secondconcept, indigenous meat production, in measuring the output of thenational livestock sector, is useful mainly in the construction ofindex numbers of agricultural production. The third concept,biological production, would be the most complete as it also reflectschanges in the livestock herd, but it is not used because ofdifficulties in obtaining information from national reporting offices. The prices applied to indigenous meat production are derived fromprices of live animals.