News

Red meat in cold storage down, chicken and cheese up

 

The USDA reports red meat supplies in cold storage at the end of October were down on the year. Pork was lower than what some analysts were expecting, at 597.295 million pounds, slightly below a year ago, even with record monthly highs for loins and boneless hams, while beef was actually above some estimates at 506.931 million pounds, but still posting a 5% year to year decrease. Monthly out-movement, from September 30th to October 31st, for both was slower than normal because of record pork production and higher than a year ago beef production, so while demand is generally good, there are plenty of supplies to work through, with more ample market ready numbers expected in the coming months.

Chicken in cold storage at the end of October was a new record monthly high. The USDA says chicken supplies were up 12% on the year at 868.308 million pounds because of relatively slow demand and turkey jumped 14% to 457.517 million even with a seasonal bump in demand due to a higher production pace earlier in the year. Month to month, chicken was 6% higher, but turkeys were down 20% on that seasonal demand spike. The total for all poultry was 12% above a year ago at 1.330 billion pounds.

The USDA says cheese in cold storage on October 31st was a new all-time high at 1.268 billion pounds, an increase of 4% on the year. American cheese supplies were up a little bit and Swiss was down 1%, but “other” types of cheese rose by 9%. Good domestic demand has helped to partially cancel out a slowdown in exports, but with milk production at high levels, cheese production has stayed at a high pace. Butter was down 4% at 219.753 million pounds, with relatively better exports and a seasonal spike in retail demand.

Poultry production numbers for October are out Monday afternoon, the USDA’s dairy product production numbers for October are scheduled for December 5th, and the next set of cold storage numbers is due December 22nd.