Total red meat supplies in US freezers rose about up 3% through September, but were down about 1% from last year on Sep. 30, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its monthly Cold Storage report Friday.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Sep. 30 were down about 1% from the previous month and down about 4% from a year ago, the USDA said.
FROZEN BEEF STOCKS MIXED
Total pounds of beef in freezers, at 413.787 million pounds. were up 25.166 million, or 6.48%, from 388.621 million the previous month but down 7.059 million, or 1.68%, from 420.846 million last year.
Of that, 373.086 million pounds were classed as “boneless” beef, and were up 25.279 million, or 7.27%, from 347.807 million a month earlier but down 8.341 million, or 2.19%, from 381.427 million a year earlier.
Another 40.701 million pounds was lumped together under the heading “beef cuts” and was down 113,000, or 0.28%, from 40.814 million in September but up 1.282 million, or 3.25%, from 39.419 million a year ago.
PORK SUPPLIES ALSO MIXED
Frozen pork supplies, at 460.141 million pounds, were up 4.881 million, or 1.07%, from 455.260 million a month earlier but down 1.515 million, or 0.33%, from 461.656 million a year earlier.
Stocks of pork bellies, at 17.818 million pounds, were down 8.005 million, or 31.0%, from 25.823 million pounds last month and down 11.821 million, or 39.9%, from 29.639 million last year.
Hams in cold storage totaled 153.498 million pounds, up 2.284 million, or 1.51%, from 151.214 million a month earlier and up 3.906 million, or 2.61%, from 149.592 million a year ago.
Pork loins on ice totaled 38.083 million pounds, up 3.142 million, or 8.99%, from 34.941 million a month earlier and 468,000, or 1.24%, more than 37.615 million a year ago.
CHICKEN STOCKS ALSO MIXED
Total stocks of frozen chicken, at 773.680 million pounds, were up 15.129 million, or 1.99%, from 758.551 million the previous month but down 57.513 million, or 6.92%, from 831.193 million last year.
Frozen whole chickens totaled 13.570 million pounds. This was 15,000, or 0.11%, less than the 13.585 million pounds a month earlier and 2.193 million, or 13.9%, less than the 15.763 million of a year ago.
Chicken breasts and breast meat totaled 221.657 million pounds, up 16.229 million, or 7.90%, from 205.428 million in September but down 8.775 million, or 3.81%, from 230.432 million last year.
Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down about 6% from Aug. 31 but up about 1% from Sep. 30, 2023.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $187.95 per cwt to $194.48, compared with the previous week’s range of $187.00 to $189.35 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $293.66 per cwt to $298.01, compared with $292.16 to $298.16.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was up $1.07 per cwt at $322.24 while select was up $0.47 at $295.08. The choice/select spread widened to $27.16 from $26.83 with 59 loads of fabricated product and 28 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $349.28 per cwt, and 50% beef was $60.42.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.25 to $1.40 a bushel over the Dec corn contract and in Kansas at $0.25 over Dec, which settled at $4.15.1/4 a bushel, down $0.06 1/4.
No cattle contracts were tendered for delivery Friday against the Oct contract.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $249.09 per cwt, down $0.47. This compares with Friday’s Oct contract settlement of $249.62, up $0.22 and Nov’s $248.57, up $0.05.