The USDA Thursday said in its monthly Cold Storage report that total red meat supplies in freezers were down about 4% from the June report and down 8% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies on June 30 were up about 2% from the previous month but down about 15% from a year ago. Total stocks of chicken were up about 1% from the previous month but down about 15% from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up about 4% from last month but down about 14% from June 30, 2020.
BEEF STOCKS DECLINE
Total pounds of beef in freezers, at 398.660 million pounds, were down 18.015 million, or 4.32%, from 416.675 million the previous month and down 30.642 million, or 7.14%, from 429.302 million last year.
Of that, 29.676 million pounds was classed as beef cuts, down 1.948 million, or 6.16%, from 31.624 million on May 31 and down 1.551 million, or 5.00%, from 31.227 million on June, 30,2020.
Another 368.984 million pounds was boneless beef, down 16.067 million, or 4.17%, from 385.051 million a month earlier and down 29.091 million, or 7.31%, from 398.075 million a year earlier.
PORK STOCKS ALSO DOWN
Frozen pork supplies, at 442.145 million pounds, were down 20.301 million, or 4.39%, from 462.446 million the previous month and down 18.028, or 3.92%, from 460.173 million last year.
Stocks of pork bellies were 36.481 million pounds, up 90,000, or 0.25%, from 36.391 million last month but down 17.359 million, or 32.2%, from 53.840 million last year.
Frozen ham stocks totaled 130.677 million pounds, up 21.340 million, or 19.5%, from 109.337 million a month ago and up 7.684 million, or 6.25%, from 122.993 million a year ago.
Pork loins in cold storage amounted to 33.871 million pounds, down 4.796 million, or 12.4%, from 38.667 million a month earlier but up 1.684 million, or 5.23%, from 32.187 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS MIXED
The total volume of chicken in cold storage on June 30, was 738.368 million pounds, up 7.996 million, or 1.09%, from 730.372 million on May 31, but down 128.347 million, or 14.8%, from 866.715 million on June 30,2020.
Whole broilers on ice totaled 13.120 million pounds, down 1.157 million, or 8.10%, from 14.277 million a month earlier and down 9.338 million, or 41.6%, from 22.458 million a year earlier.
Frozen supplies of breasts and breast meat totaled 195.128 million pounds, down 9.139 million, or 4.47%, from 204.267 million a month earlier and down 19.829 million, or 9.22%, from 214.957 million a year earlier.
Leg quarters totaled 68.361 million pounds, versus 64.477 million a month ago and 68.155 million a year ago.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle traded this week at $118 to $122 per cwt on a live basis, down $1 to $3 from last week. Dressed-basis trade was at $195 to $197, down $1 to $4.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $0.90 per cwt at $266.14, while select was up $1.00 at $249.77. The choice/select spread narrowed to $16.37 from $16.47 with 95 loads of fabricated product and 23 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Thursday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.86 to $1.91 a bushel over the Sep futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.70 over Sep, which settled at $5.64 1/2 a bushel, down 7 1/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $151.39 per cwt up $0.68. This compares with Thursday’s Aug contract settlement of $158.20 per cwt, up $1.42.