Total US stocks of frozen red meat and poultry on Nov. 30 were down from a month earlier, according to the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Monday.
Total frozen red meat supplies were down 2% from Oct. 31 but up 2% from last year, the report said. Total frozen poultry supplies on were down 10% from the previous month but up 1% from a year ago.
Total chicken stocks were up 4% from the previous month and up 7% from last year, NASS said. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down 42 percent from last month and down 17 percent from Nov. 30, 2018.
BEEF STOCKS DECLINE
Total pounds of beef in freezers, at 480.382 million pounds, were up 14.116 million, or 3.03%, from 466.266 million the previous month but down 34.316 million, or 6.67%, from 514.698 million last year.
Boneless beef supplies totaled 446.785 million pounds, up 16.752 million, or 3.90%, from 430.033 million a month earlier but down 27.078 million, or 5.71%, from 473.863 million a year earlier.
Beef cuts in cold storage at the end of November totaled 33.597 million pounds, down 2.636 million, or 7.28%, from 36.233 million at the end of October and down 7.238 million, or 17.7%, from 40.835 million at the end of November 2018.
PORK STOCKS MIXED
Frozen pork supplies on Nov. 30 were mixed, being down from a month ago but up from a year ago.
Frozen pork supplies, at 574.860 million pounds were down 37.057 million, or 6.06%, from 611.917 million on Oct. 31 but up 67.192 million, or 13.2%, from 507.668 million on Nov. 31 a year ago.
Stocks of pork bellies came to 51.602 million pounds, up 6.188 million, or 13.6%, from 45.414 million last month and up 14.743 million, or 40.0%, from 36.859 million last year.
The total amount of hams on ice at the end of the month was 109.903 million pounds, down from 173.804 million a month earlier but up from 96.859 million a year earlier.
US freezers held 48.426 million pounds of pork loins on Nov. 30, up 6.440 million, or 15.3%m from 41.986 million a month earlier and up 14.503 million, or 43.5%, from 33.324 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS RISE
Total chicken supplies, at 991.489 million pounds, were up 37.172 million, or 3.90%, from 954.317 million a month ago and up 62.353 million, or 6.71%, from 929.136 million a year ago.
There were 210,156 million pounds of breast or breast meat on hand at the end of November, up 20.763 million, or 11.0%, from 189.393 million a month earlier and up 23.219 million, or 12.4%, from 186.937 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle trading was reported last week at $120 to $121 per cwt on a live basis, with a few up to $122.50 late, mostly up $0.50 to $2 from the previous week. Dressed-basis trading was seen at $192 per cwt, up $2 to $4.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $1.87 per cwt at $211.57, while select was up $3.61 at $204.64. The choice/select spread narrowed to $6.93 from $8.67 with 72 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
Six steer contracts were tendered for delivery Monday against the Dec live cattle futures contract.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Friday was $145.98 per cwt, down $0.31 from the previous day. This compares with Monday’s Jan contract settlement of $143.52, down $0.75.