Total red meat supplies in freezers on Oct. 31 were down about 4% from the previous month but up about 11% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its monthly Cold Storage report Tuesday.
Frozen pork supplies were down about 5% from the previous month but up about 16% from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up about 10% from last month and up about 246% from last year.
Total frozen poultry supplies were down about 9% from the previous month but up about 9% from a year ago, the USDA said. Chicken stocks were up about 2% from the previous month and up about 18% from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were down about 32% from last month and down about 12% from Oct. 31, 2021.
BEEF STOCKS UP FROM 2021
Total pounds of beef in freezers, at 509.949 million pounds, were down 16.221 million, or 3.08%, from 526.170 million the previous month but up 36.186 million, or 7.64%, from 473.763 million last year.
Of that, 460.103 million pounds was listed as “boneless” beef, down 13.235 million, or 2.30%, from 473.338 million a month earlier but up 27.651 million, or 6.39%, from 432.452 million a year earlier.
Also included in the total were 49.846 million pounds of “beef cuts,” down 2.986 million, or 5.65%, from 52.832 million a month ago but up 8.535 million, or 20.7%, from 41.311 million a year ago.
PORK STOCKS UP FROM 2021
Total pounds of pork in cold storage on Oct. 31 were 511.056 million, down 25.924 million, or 4.83%, from 536.980 million in September but up 68.686 million, or 15.5%, from 442.370 million on Oct. 31, 2021.
Pork bellies on ice totaled 40.196 million pounds, up 3.683 million, or 10.1%, from 36.513 million a month earlier and up 28.582 million, or 246.1%, from 11.614 million a year earlier.
Frozen hams totaled 121.406 million pounds, down 38.082 million, or 23.9%, from 159.488 million last month and down 28.637 million, or 19.1%, from 150.043 million last year.
Pork loins in cold storage totaled 39.129 million pounds, up 2.189 million, or 5.93%, from 36.940 million a month earlier and up 7.041 million, or 21.9%, from 32.088 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STOCKS UP FROM 2021
Total pounds of chicken in cold storage on Oct. 31 were 891.688 million, up 17.931 million, or 2.05%, from 873.757 million in September and up 135.532 million, or 17.9%, from 756.165 million on Oct. 31, 2021.
Frozen turkey stocks amounted to 265.857 million pounds, down 125.673 million, or 32.1%, from 391.530 million a month earlier and down 36.142 million, or 12.0%, from 301.999 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 $150.85 to $156.00 per cwt, compared with last week’s range of $151.44 to $155.03. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $237.83 to $242.19 per cwt, versus $235.92 to $240.89.
The USDA choice cutout Tuesday day was up $1.06 per cwt at $256.63 while select was up $0.95 at $234.18. The choice/select spread widened to $22.45 from $22.34 with 125 loads of fabricated product and 32 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 $2.05 to $2.25 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were steady at $1.00 over Dec, which settled at $6.56 3/4, down 2 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Monday was $174.64 per cwt unchanged. This compares with Tuesday’s Jan contract settlement of $181.67, down $0.95.