Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Aug. 31 were up about 1% from the previous month and up about 20% from last year, while total frozen poultry supplies were up about 2% from the previous month and up about 11% from a year ago, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s monthly Cold Storage report Thursday.
BEEF STOCKS RISE
Total pounds of beef in freezers, at 515.676 million pounds, were up 3.810 million, or 0.74%, from 511.866 million the previous month and up 100.778 million, or 24.3%, from 414.898 million last year.
Of that, 463.780 million pounds were classed as boneless beef, up 5.914 million, or 1.29%, from 457.866 million a month earlier and up 79.621 million, or 20.7%, from 384.156 million a year ago.
Another 51.896 million pounds were classed as beef cuts, down 2.104 million, or 3.90%, from 54.000 million a month earlier but up 21.154 million, or 68.8%, from 30.742 million a year ago.
PORK STOCKS ALSO RISE
Frozen pork supplies, at 532.039 million pounds, were up 5.561 million, or 1.06%, from 526.478 million the previous month and up 77.836 million, or 17.1%, from 454.203 million last year.
Stocks of pork bellies were 32.493 million pounds, down 10.349 million, or 24.2%, from 42.842 million last month but up 14.931 million, or 85.0%, from 17.562 million last year.
Hams in cold storage totaled 163.527 million pounds, up 11.893 million, or 7.84%, from 151.634 million a month ago but down 22.113 million, or 11.9%, from 185.640 million a year ago.
Total loins on ice came to 33.159 million pounds, down 217,000, or 0.65%, from 33.376 million a month earlier but up 3.818 million, or 13.0%, from 29.341 million a year earlier.
Frozen ribs totaled 107.318 million pounds, up 1.003 million, or 0.94%, from 106.315 million a month earlier and up 53.168 million, or 98.2%, from 54.150 million a year ago.
POULTRY STOCKS UP SLIGHTLY
Total chicken stocks of 831.494 million pounds were up 16.989 million, or 2.09%, from 814.505 million the previous month and up 118.334 million, or 16.6%, from 713.160 million last year.
Whole broilers in freezers Aug. 31 came to 15.813 million pounds, up 2.778 million, or 21.3%, from 13.035 million a month earlier and up 2.092 million, or 15.2%, from 13.721 million a year earlier.
Frozen leg quarters totaled 92.957 million pounds, up 10.618 million, or 12.9%, from 82.339 million a month earlier and up 17.668 million, or 23.5%, from 75.289 million a year earlier.
Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up about 1% from a month earlier and up about 1% from a year ago.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $142.00 to $147.86 per cwt, compared with last week’s range of $141.00 to $145.00 FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $222.00 to $226.60 per cwt, versus $221.34 to $227.23.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was down $0.73 per cwt at $248.40 while select was off $4.03 at $222.11. The choice/select spread widened to $26.29 from $22.99 with 141 loads of fabricated product and 46 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $2.65 to $2.80 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $1.00 over Dec, which settled at $6.88 1/4, up $0.02 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $179.75 per cwt up $1.65. This compares with Thursday’s Sep contract settlement of $178.70, up $0.02.