Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Jan. 31 were up 5% from the previous month and up 3% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its monthly Cold Storage report Monday.
In addition, total frozen poultry supplies were up 4% from the previous month and up 1% from a year ago. Chicken stocks were down 2% from a month earlier but up 12% from last year.
Total pounds of beef in freezers were up 2% from the previous month but down 4% from last year.
Frozen pork supplies were up 8% from the previous month and up 11% from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up 6% from last month and up 32% from last year
BEEF SUPPLIES MIXED
More specifically, total beef supplies on Jan. 31 were listed at 489.136 million pounds, up 9.020 million, or 1.88%, from 480.116 million a month earlier but down 21.078 million, or 4.13%, from 510.214 million a year earlier.
Boneless beef supplies totaled 455.886 million pounds, up 5.896 million, or 1.31%, from 449.990 million on Dec. 31 but down 54.328 million, or 10.6%, from 510.214 million on Jan. 31, 2019.
Beef cut stores came in at 33.250 million pounds, up 3.124 million, or 10.4%, from 30.126 million a month earlier and up 532,000, or 1.63%, from 32.718 million a year earlier.
PORK SUPPLIES MOSTLY LARGER
Frozen pork supplies at the end of January were mostly higher with total stocks at 625.188 million pounds, up 44.724 million pounds, or 7.70%, from 580.464 million a month earlier and up 62.455 million, or 11.1%, from 562.733 million a year earlier.
The often-watched pork bellies amounted to 70.872 million pounds, up 4.225 million, or 6.34%, from 66.647 million a month earlier and up 17.136 million, or 31.9%, from 53.736 million a year earlier.
The volume of loins in cold storage was 50.109 million pounds, up 986,000, or 2.01%, from 49.123 million a month earlier and up 15.160 million, or 43.4%, from 34.949 million a year earlier.
Bone-in loins in storage amounted to 22.042 million pounds, up 118,000, or 0.54%, from 21.924 million at the end of December and up 9.720 million, or 78.9%, from 34.949 million at the end of January 2019.
Boneless loins in cold storage totaled 28.067 million pounds, up 868,000, or 3.19%, from 27.199 million a month earlier and up 5.440 million, or 24.0%, from 22.627 million a year earlier.
Frozen ham stocks came to 114.621 million pounds, up 28.626 million, or 33.3%, from 85.995 million a month earlier and up 1.961 million, or 1.74%, from 112.660 million a year earlier.
CHICKEN STORES MIXED
The total volume of chickens and chicken parts in cold storage was 957.492 million pounds, down 20.130 million, or 2.06%, from 977.622 million a month earlier but up 103.874 million, or 12.2%, from 853.618 million a year earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle traded this week at $115 to $119 per cwt on a live basis, down $1 to $4 from last week and at $186 to $187 on a dressed basis, down $3.
The USDA choice cutout Tuesday was up $0.40 per cwt at $207.47, while select was down $2.47 at $199.90. The choice/select spread widened to $7.57 from $4.70 with 99 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
No futures contracts were tendered for delivery Tuesday against the Feb futures contract.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Monday was $139.72 per cwt, down $1.30 from the previous day. This compares with Tuesday’s Mar contract settlement of $132.97, down $3.05.