Total red meat supplies in freezers on Sep. 30 were up about 2% from the previous month but down about 17% from last year, the USDA said in its monthly Cold Storage report Wednesday.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up about 6% from the previous month but down about 20% from last year, the USDA said.
Frozen pork supplies were down about 1% from the previous month and down about 14% from last year, the report said. Stocks of pork bellies were down 19% from last month and down about 19% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies on Sep. 30, were down about 1% from the previous month and down slightly from a year ago, the USDA said. Total stocks of chicken were up about 2% from the previous month but down about 3% from last year.
Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down about 6% from last month but up about 7% from Sep. 30, 2022.
BEEF STOCKS MIXED
Frozen beef stores were listed at 420.244 million pounds, up 24.842 million, or 6.28%, from 395.402 million last month but down 105.900 million, or 20.1%, from 526.144 million a year ago.
Of that, 380.834 million pounds was listed as “boneless” beef, up 23.834 million, or 6.68%, from 357.000 million a month earlier but down 92.478 million, or 19.5%, from 473.312 million a year ago.
Frozen “beef cuts” totaled 39.410 million pounds, up 1.008 million, or 2.62%, from 38.402 million a month earlier but down 13.422 million, or 25.4%, from 52.832 million a year earlier.
PORK STOCKS DECLINE
Frozen pork stores were listed at 462.763 million pounds, down 6.480 million, or 1.38%, from 469.243 million in August and down 74.273 million, or 13.8%, from 537.036 million a year ago.
Pork bellies in cold storage totaled 29.638 million pounds, down from 36.804 million a month ago and down from 36.513 million a year ago.
Total hams on ice came to 149.520 million pounds, down 4.766 million, or 3.09%, from 154.286 million last month and down 9.969 million, or 6.25%, from 159.489 million a year ago.
Pork loins in cold storage came to 37.644 million pounds, up 3.769 million, or 11.1%, from 33.875 million a month earlier and up 704,000, or 1.91%, from 36.940 million a year earlier.
Frozen pork ribs totaled 61.402 million pounds. up 4.633 million, or 8.16%, from 56.769 million in August but down 41.897 million, or 40.6%, from 103.299 million on Sep.30, 2022.
CHICKEN STOCKS MIXED
Frozen chicken stocks were listed at 844.299 million pounds, up 14.960 million, or 1.80%, from 829.339 million a month earlier but down 29.566 million, or 3.38%, from 873.865 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $185.00 per cwt to $189.69, compared with last week’s range of $182.09 to $187.00 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $28.71 per cwt to $292.40, compared with $285.90 to $294.21.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was up $1.52 per cwt at $307.50 while select was off $2.34 at $281.66. The choice/select spread widened to $25.84 from $21.98 with 88 loads of fabricated product and 53 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 $1.25 to $1.35 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.80 a bushel, down $0.04.
No live cattle contracts were posted for delivery Wednesday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $241.63 per cwt, down $0.49. This compares with Tuesday’s Oct contract settlement of $239.97, up $0.55.