Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Sep. 30 were up about 4% from the previous month but down about 4% from last year, according to the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Friday.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up about 5% from the previous month but were down about 6% from last year.
Frozen pork supplies were up about 3% from Aug. 31 and up slightly from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were down about 26% from last month and down about 48% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Sep. 30 were up about 1% from the previous month but down about 17% from a year ago. Total chicken stocks were up about 3% from the previous month but down about 17% from last year.
Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down about 3% from last month and down about 17% from Sep. 30, 2020.
BEEF STOCKS MIXED
Beef supplies on ice Sep. 30 totaled 435.342 million pounds, up 20.424 million, or 4.92%, from 414.918 million a month earlier but down 27.678 million, or 5.98%, from 463.020 million a year earlier.
Of that, 35.381 million were classed as “beef cuts,” up 4.639 million, or 15.1%, from 30.742 million a month earlier and up 229,000, or 0.65%, from 35.152 million a year earlier.
“Boneless” beef in cold storage at the end of September totaled 399.961 million pounds, up 15.785 million, or 4.11%, from 384.176 million a month earlier but down 27.907 million, or 6.52%, from 427.868 million a year earlier.
PORK SUPPLIES RISE
The amount of frozen pork in storage on Sep. 30 totaled 466.410 million head, up 12.117 million, or 2.67%, from 454.293 million a month earlier and up 791,000, or 0.17%, from 465.619 million a year earlier.
Of that, frozen pork bellies totaled 13.032 million pounds, down 4.530 million, or 25.8%, from 17.562 million last year and down 11.814 million, or 47.5%, from 24.846 million last year.
Hams in cold storage totaled 193.474 million pounds, up 7.841 million, or 4.22%, from 185.633 million on Aug. 31 and up 47.480 million, or 32.5%, from 145.994 million on Sep. 30, 2020.
Frozen pork loins totaled 29.915 million pounds, up 574,000, or 1.96%, from 29.341 million a month earlier but down 11.056 million, or 27.0%, from 40.971 million a year earlier.
Pork ribs in cold storage totaled 58.471 million pounds, up 4.224 million, or 7.79%, from 54.247 million a month ago but down 5.27 million, or 8.27%, from 63.741 million a year ago.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $123.44 to $125.75 per cwt, compared with the previous week’s range of $123.12 to $125.00. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $193.78 to $196.35 per cwt, versus $193.39 to $196.04.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.16 per cwt at $281.82, while select was up $0.39 at $263.11. The choice/select spread widened to $18.71 from $17.94 with 71 loads of fabricated product and 21 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Friday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.15 to $1.27 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.40 over Dec, which settled at $5.38 a bushel, up $0.05 3/4.
No live cattle contracts were tendered for delivery against Oct Friday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $155.11 per cwt up $1.08. This compares with Friday’s Oct contract settlement of $155.34 per cwt, up $0.23.