Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Jan. 31 were up about 3% from a month earlier but down about 12% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its monthly Cold Storage report Tuesday.
Beef stocks were down about 3% from the previous month but up about 6% from last year, while frozen pork stocks were up roughly 11% from a month earlier but down 26% from last year.
Frozen poultry supplies were up about 3% from a month earlier but down 11% from a year ago, with chicken stocks down 5% from a month earlier and down 15% from last year.
BEEF TOTALS MIXED
Total beef stocks in cold storage Jan. 31 were 519.186 million pounds, down 17.718 million, or 3.30%, from 536.904 million a month earlier but up 30.989 million, or 6.35%, from 488.197 million a year ago.
Of that, boneless beef stocks totaled 481.104 million pounds, down 18.202 million, or 3.65%, from 499.306 million a month earlier but up 26.138 million, or 5.75%, from 454.966 million a year earlier.
Beef cuts in cold storage totaled 38.082 million pounds, up 1.484 million, or 4.05%, from 36.598 million a month ago and up 4.851 million, or 14.6%, from 33.231 million a year ago.
PORK TOTALS ALSO MIXED
Total pork stocks at the end of January came to 459.947 million pounds, up 44.012 million, or 10.6%, from 415.935 million a month earlier but down 165.641 million, or 26.5%, from 625.588 million a year earlier.
Pork bellies in cold storage totaled 31.250 million pounds, up 535,000, or 1.74%, from 30.715 million a month ago but down 39.622 million, or 55.9%, from 70.872 million a year ago.
Frozen ham stocks totaled 84.220 million pounds, up 30.545 million, or 56.9%, from 53.675 million a month earlier but down 30.398 million, or 26.5%, from 114.618 million a year ago.
Pork loins in cold storage totaled 40.171 million pounds, up 1.910 million, or 4.99%, from 38.261 million at the end of December but down 9.938 million, or 19.8%, from 50.109 million at the end of January 2020.
CHICKEN STOCKS DOWN
Total chicken inventories in US freezers were 817.918 million pounds, down 45.518 million, or 5.27%, from 863.436 million a month earlier and down 139.576 million, or 14.6%, from 957.494 million a year earlier.
Breast meat in cold storage totaled 239.398 million pounds, down 17.710 million, or 6.89%, from 257.108 million a month ago but up 15.434 million, or 6.89%, from 223.964 million a year ago.
Leg quarters, at 59.570 million pounds, down from 68.393 million a month earlier and down from 94.431 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle trading was reported in the Plains last week at $113 to $116 per cwt, steady to up $1 to $1.50 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was at $180 to $182 per cwt, steady to up $2.
The USDA choice cutout Tuesday was up $0.31 per cwt at $240.29, while select was up $0.55 at $230.53. The choice/select spread narrowed to $9.76 from $10.00 with 93 loads of fabricated product and 38 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Tuesday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.00 to $1.25 a bushel over the Mar CBOT futures contract, which settled at $5.53 3/4 a bushel, up $0.02 3/4.
Four steer contracts were tendered for delivery against the Feb futures contract Tuesday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Monday was $140.39 per cwt, down $0.73. This compares with Tuesday’s Mar contract settlement of $138.57 per cwt, down $0.75.