Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Sep. 30, were 968.392 million pounds, up 7.141 million, or 0.74%, from 961.251 million Aug. 31 but down 146.714 million, or 13.2%, from 1.115 billion last year, the USDA said in its monthly Cold Storage report Thursday.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Sep. 30 came to 1.401 billion pounds, down 23.977 million, or 1.68%, from 1.425 billion a month earlier and down 45.602 million, or 3.15%, from 1.446 billion a year ago.
BEEF STOCKS MIXED
The total volume of beef in cold storage at the end of September came to 461.987 million pounds, up 12.632 million, or 2.81%, from 449.355 million a month ago but down 6.994 million, or 1.49%, from 468.981 million a year earlier.
Boneless beef inventories in cold storage amounted to 426.793 million pounds, up 8.879 million, or 2.12%, from 417.914 million a month earlier but down 7.398 million, or 1.70%, from 434.191 million a year earlier.
The total poundage of beef cuts on ice at the end of September was 35.194 million pounds, up 3.753 million, or 11.9%, from 31.441 million a month earlier and up 404,000, or 1.16%, from 34.790 million a year earlier.
PORK STOCKS MIXED
Total stocks of pork in cold storage amounted to 466.474 million pounds, up 1.009 million, or 0.22%, from 465.465 million a month earlier but down 132.276 million, or 22.1%, from 598.750 million a year earlier.
Pork bellies in cold storage totaled 24.876 million pounds, down 6.170 million, or 19.9%, from 31.046 million a month earlier and down 15.667 million, or 38.6%, from 40.543 million a year earlier.
Total hams on ice on Sep. 30 came to 146.344 million pounds, up 2.209 million, or 1.53%, from 144.135 million at the end of August but down 63.914 million, or 30.4%, from 210.258 million a year earlier.
Total frozen pork loins were 41.146 million pounds, up 903,000, or 2.24%, from 40.243 million a month earlier and up 1.451 million, or 3.66%, from 39.695 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS MIXED
Total stocks of chicken in cold storage amounted to 889.765 million pounds, up 4.978 million, or 0.56%, from 884.787 million a month earlier but down 24.592 million, or 2.69%, from 914.357 million a year earlier.
Whole broiler stocks were 24.848 million pounds, down 4.612 million, or 15.9%, from 29.041 million a month earlier but up 1.584 million, or 6.81%, from 23.264 million a year earlier.
Total turkey stocks were 505.825 million pounds, down 27.460 million, or 5.15%, from 533.285 million a month earlier and down 22.569 million, or 4.27%, from 528.394 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle trading this week was seen at $104 to $106 per cwt on a live basis, down $3 from last week. Dressed-basis trading was reported at $165 to $166 per cwt, down $3 to $4.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $0.39 per cwt at $208.86, while select was up $0.17 at $191.08. The choice/select spread widened to $17.78 from $17.57 with 127 loads of fabricated product and 34 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Thursday that basis bids from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.15 to $1.21 per bushel over the Dec CME futures contract, which settled at $4.16 1/4 a bushel.
There were no delivery notices against the Oct live cattle futures market Thursday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $135.53 per cwt, down $2.83. This compares with Thursday’s Oct contract settlement of $133.82 per cwt, down $0.57.