Total red meat supplies in US freezers on March 31 were down about 6% from a month earlier and down about 17% from last year, the USDA said in its monthly Cold Storage report Thursday.
Total frozen poultry supplies on March 31 were up slightly from a month earlier but were down about 17% from a year ago. Total stocks of chicken were down about 4% from the previous month and down 20% from last year. Turkey supplies were up about 9% from last month but down about 10% from last year.
BEEF SUPPLIES DOWN
Total supplies of beef in cold storage on March 31 were 483.650 million pounds, down 28.889 million, or 5.64%, from 512.539 million a month earlier and down 18.686 million, or 3.72%, from 502.336 million a year earlier.
Of those, 451.322 million pounds were classified as boneless, down 24.510 million, or 5.15%, from 475.832 million a month earlier and down 15.690 million, or 3.36%, from 467.012 million a year earlier.
Also included in the total were 32.328 million pounds of beef cuts, down 4.379 million, or 11.9%, from 36.707 million a month earlier and down 2.996 million, or 8.48%, from 35.324 million a year earlier.
PORK STOCKS DOWN
Total supplies of pork on March 31, at 451.756 million pounds, were down 31.596 million, or 6.54%, from 483.352 million a month earlier and down 165.190 million, or 26.8%, from 616.946 million a year earlier.
Of that, 35.260 million were bellies, down 2.296 million, or 6.11%, from 37.556 million a month earlier and down 42.897 million, or 54.9%, from 78.157 million a year earlier.
Hams in cold storage totaled 60.661 million pounds down 31.461 million, or 34.2%, from 92.122 million a month earlier and down 27.647 million, or 31.3%, from 88.308 million a year earlier.
Total loins on ice were 47.339 million pounds, up 1.371 million, or 2.98%, from 45.968 million at the end of February and up 824,000, or 1.77%, from 46.515 million on March 31, 2020.
CHICKEN SUPPLIES DOWN
In addition to red meat, frozen chicken stocks on March 31, at 740.325 million pounds, were down 28.945 million, or 3.76%, from 769.270 million a month earlier and down 179.875 million, or 19.5%, from 920.200 million a year earlier.
Whole chickens, at 13.067 million pounds on ice were up 950,000, or 7.84%, from last month’s 12.117 million but down 7.119 million, or 35.3%, from last year’s 20.186 million.
Leg quarters, at 57.790 million pounds, were up from 52.293 million a month earlier but down from 81.021 million a year ago.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Fed cattle traded this week at $119 to $124 per cwt on a live basis, down $1 to $2 from last week. Dressed-basis trading was at $195 per cwt, down $1 to up $2.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $1.85 per cwt at $282.31, while select was up $1.81 at $273.69. The choice/select spread widened to $8.62 from $8.58 with 73 loads of fabricated product and 20 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 $1.05 to $1.16 a bushel over the May CBOT futures contract, which settled at $6.50 1/2 a bushel, up $0.25.
There were no delivery intentions posted against the Apr live cattle futures contract Thursday. None were retendered, and none were demanded or reclaimed.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $137.53 per cwt down $0.80. This compares with Thursday’s Apr contract settlement of $132.25 per cwt, down $2.85.