Total red meat supplies in freezers on Oct. 31 were up about 1% from September but down about 3% from last year, said the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Monday.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up about 9% from September but down about 5% from last year.
Frozen pork supplies were down about 6% from September and down about 2% from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were down about 10% from last month and down about 39% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Oct. 31 were down about 8% from September and down about 18% from a year ago. Chicken stocks were up about 3% from September but down about 17% from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down about 27% from last month and down about 19% from last year.
BEEF STOCKS MIXED
Total beef supplies in cold storage at the end of October came to 477.063 million pounds, up 37.442 million, or 8.52%, from 439.621 million at the end of September but down 23.153 million, or 4.63%, from 500.216 million a year ago.
Of that, 435.907 million pounds were classed as “boneless” beef, up 31.670 million, or 7.83%, from 404.237 million a month ago but 25.241 million, or 5.47%, less than last year’s 461.148 million.
Also included in the total were 41.156 million pounds of beef cuts, up 5.772 million, or 16.3%, from 35.384 million in September and up 2.088 million, or 5.34%, from 39.068 million in October 2020.
PORK STOCKS ALSO MIXED
Total supplies of pork in cold storage were mixed but tended to decline from a year ago, even though most cuts were up from September.
US frozen pork inventories totaled 439.622 million pounds at the end of October, down 30.295 million, or 6.45%, from 469.917 million in September and down 7.493 million, or 1.68%, from 447.115 million a year ago.
Pork bellies in cold storage totaled 11.603 million pounds, down 1.325 million, or 10.25%, from 12.928 million a month ago and down 7.422 million, or 39.0%, from 19.025 million a year ago.
Hams in cold storage totaled 150.813 million pounds, down 43.736 million, or 22.5%, from 194.549 million last month but up 27.489 million, or 33.3%, from 123.324 million last year.
Loins on ice totaled 32.070 million pounds, up 2.101 million, or 7.01%, from 29.969 million last month but down 9.777 million, or 23.4%, from 41.847 million last year.
CHICKEN STOCKS MIXED
Total chicken stocks were 756.297 million pounds, up from 737.044 million in September but down from 911.309 million in 2020.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $131.81 to $135.42 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $129.52 to $132.00. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $205.64 to $209.84 per cwt, versus $197.79 to $203.85.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $0.84 per cwt at $279.25, while select was down $0.10 at $263.73. The choice/select spread widened to $15.52 from $14.58 with 105 loads of fabricated product and 19 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Monday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were up $0.05 at $1.35 to $1.45 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.40 over Dec, which settled at $5.76 3/4 a bushel, up $0.06.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $156.29 per cwt up $0.64. This compares with Monday’s Jan contract settlement of $161.70 per cwt, up $0.77.