News

Pork, beef stocks down on year

 

The USDA’s latest cold storage report shows solid demand for pork.

At the end of July, pork supplies were down 7% on the year at 556.179 million pounds and lower than what many analysts were expecting as strong consumer and export demand cancel out record production levels. Belly stocks stole the show again, dropping 65% on the year to a new monthly low of 17.554 million pounds. Beef stocks were 8% below a year ago at 430.429 million pounds, but still larger than most pre-report estimates, with the month to month increase well above the five year average. Beef production has been running at relatively high levels as the U.S. industry continues to bounce back after a period of contraction.

The poultry total was up 2% on the year at 1.386 billion pounds, with slow demand for turkey cancelling out good demand for chicken. Turkey supplies were up 11% at 590.370 million pounds, while chicken was down 4% at 794.820 million.

The USDA’s monthly livestock slaughter report is out Thursday afternoon and poultry slaughter numbers are out Friday afternoon.

U.S. cheese stocks at the end of July were a new monthly record, hitting 1.375 billion pounds. High milk production levels have led to high dairy product production levels and while domestic demand for cheese is good, but demand is slow because of international competition. Butter is showing signs of improving export demand, with supplies down 8% on the year at 307.728 million pounds.

The USDA’s next set of supply and demand estimates is out September 12th.