TURKEY'S ANIMAL PRODUCTION INCREASES 4.7 PERCENT, TOTAL NUMBER REACHES 66 MILLION...

Turkey's animal production saw an increase of 4.7%, around 3 million, year-on-year in 2019, the country's statistical authority said on Thursday.

TurkStat said the total number of animals in Turkey last year reached 66.6 million.

Including cattle and buffalos, the number of bovine animals totaled 17.87 million in 2019, up 3.8% year-on-year.

Official data also showed that the number of ovine animals, including sheep and goats, soared 5.1% to 48.5 million over the same period.

"Sheep number increased by 5.9%, and became 37.27 million heads; goat number increased by 2.6%, and became 11.2 million heads," said the institute.

The figures also showed that there were nearly 262,000 donkeys, horses, mules, camels and pigs in Turkey last year.

Over the year, the country produced 348.8 million poultry animals -- chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese -- down by 2.9% on an annual basis.

Turkey collected 22.96 million tons of milk and 109,330 tons of honey. The country's wool production was also 70,588 tons, the data showed.

The country exported $356.85 million in milk and $24.7 million in honey last year, according to the National Milk Council and TurkStat data.