Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Nov. 30 were down about 2% from October and down about 4% from last year, according to the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Wednesday.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up about 4% from October but down about 4% from last year.
Frozen pork supplies were down about 8% from a month earlier and down about 3% from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up about 117% from last month and up about 8% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Nov. 30 were down about 17% from a month ago and down about 18% from a year ago. Chicken stocks were down about 2% from the previous month and down about 16% from last year.
Frozen turkey stocks were down about 53% from last month and down about 26% from Nov. 30, 2020.
BEEF STOCKS MIXED
Total beef stocks were 493.318 million pounds, up 19.774 million, or 4.18%, from 473.544 million a month ago but down 18.104 million, or 3.54%, from 511.422 million a year ago.
Of that, 38.797 million pounds were classified as beef cuts, down 2.514 million, or 6.09%, from 41.311 million a month earlier but up 1.258 million, or 3.35%, from 37.539 million a year earlier.
And, 454.521 million pounds of the total were listed as boneless beef, up 22.288 million, or 5.16%, from 432.233 million Oct. 30 but down 19.362 million, or 4.09%, from 473.883 million on Nov. 30, 2020.
PORK STOCKS DECLINE
Total pork stocks in cold storage were 406.718 million pounds, down 35.061 million, or 7.94%, from 441.779 million a month earlier and down 13.054 million, or 3.11%, from 419.772 million a year earlier.
Pork bellies on ice totaled 25.213 million pounds, up 13.599 million, or 117.1%, from 11.614 million a month earlier and up 1.921 million, or 8,25%, from 23.292 million a year ago.
Total hams in cold storage came to 25.213 million pounds, up 13.599 million, or 117.1%, from 11.614 million in October and up 1.921 million, or 8.25%, from 23.292 million in November 2020.
Pork loins in US freezers amounted to 38.419 million pounds, up 6.422 million, or 20.1%, from 31.997 million a month earlier and up 1.255 million, or 3.38%, from 37.164 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS DOWN
Total frozen chicken stocks were 740.837 million pounds, down 15.328, or 2.03%, from 756.165 million a month ago and down 141.458, or 16.0%, from 882.295 million a year ago.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $137.09 to $138.00 per cwt, compared with last week’s range of $140.00 to $142.17. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $218.04 to $219.76 per cwt, versus $219.83 to $221.74.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was up $0.47 per cwt at $261.86, while select was up $0.91 at $250.83. The choice/select spread narrowed to $11.03 from $11.47 with 106 loads of fabricated product and 32 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Wednesday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.35 to $1.45 a bushel over the Mar futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.40 over Mar, which settled at $6.02 1/2 a bushel, up $0.04 1/4.
No delivery intentions were posted against the Dec live cattle contract Wednesday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $160.25 per cwt down $0.08. This compares with Wednesday’s Jan contract settlement of $161.77 per cwt, up $0.92.