Total red meat supplies in freezers on Feb. 29 were up 3% from the previous month and up 5% from last year, according to monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Monday.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up 1% from the previous month and up 4% from last year.
Frozen pork supplies were up 6% from the previous month and up 7% from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up 5% from last month and up 38% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were up slightly from the previous month but down 4% from a year ago. Total stocks of chicken were down 3% from the previous month but up 6% from last year.
Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up 13% from last month but down 25% from a year earlier.
BEEF STOCKS UP
Specifically, total supplies of beef in cold storage on Feb. 29 came to 490.981 million pounds, up 2.784 million, or 0.57%, from 488.197 million a month earlier and up 17.002 million, or 3.59%, from 473.979 million a year earlier.
Boneless beef stocks in cold storage at the end of February totaled 456.855 million pounds, up 1.889 million, or 0.42%, from 454.966 million a month earlier and up 11.234 million, or 2.52%, from 445.621 million a year earlier.
Total beef cuts on hand on Feb. 29 came to 34.126 million pounds, up 895,000, or 2.69%, from 33.231 million at the end of January and up 5.768 million, or 20.3%, from 28.358 million at the end of January 2019.
PORK STOCKS RISE
Total supplies of pork in cold storage amounted to 661.660 million pounds on Feb. 29, up 36.072 million, or 5.77%, from 625.588 million a month earlier and up 45.986 million, or 7.47%, from 615.674 million a year earlier.
Pork belly stocks in US freezers totaled 74.383 million pounds, up 3.511 million, or 3.511 million, or 4.95%, from 70.872 million a month earlier and up 20.612 million, or 38.3%, from 53.771 million a year earlier.
The total pounds of hams in cold storage were 119.053 million, up 4.435 million, or 3.87%, from 114.618 million a month earlier but down 8.687 million, or 6.80%, from 127.740 million a year earlier.
Frozen loins amounted to 49.458 million pounds, down 651,000, or 1.30%, from 50.109 million a month earlier but up 10.803 million, or 27.9%, from 38.655 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS MIXED
The total amount of chicken in cold storage on Feb. 29 were 925.089 million pounds, down 32.405 million, or 3.38%, from 957.494 million a month earlier but up 5.626 million, or 6.48%, from 868.829 million a year earlier.
Of that, 19.961 million pounds were whole broilers, fryers and roasters, down 2.044 million, or 9.29%, from 22.005 million a month earlier but up 598,000, or 3.09%, from 19.363 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle traded in the Plains last week at $105 to $113 per cwt on a live basis, down $3 to up $3 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trade was at $170 to $175, steady to down $5.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $3.57 per cwt at $257.32, while select was up $4.97 at $245.14. The choice/select spread narrowed to $12.18 from $13.58 with 168 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Friday was $116.15 per cwt, down $5.23. This compares with Monday’s Mar contract settlement of $125.22, up $4.50, and the Apr settlement of $123.32, up $4.50.