News

2023 red meat, poultry, dairy stocks down from 2022

2023 ended with tighter supplies of red meat and poultry in cold storage than 2022.

The USDA says the red meat total at the end of last year was 929.03 million pounds, 99.198 million pounds less than the previous year, largely due to better demand for beef and lower production on pork.

Poultry wrapped up the year at 1.116 billion pounds, 7.482 million under the year before, with chicken declining due to demand, which canceled out an increase in production, but with turkey stocks rising because of slower demand and higher production.

Supplies of cheese and butter in cold storage saw year-to-year declines.

Stocks of natural cheese at the end of 2023 were 1.442 billion pounds, 2.72 million under the end of 2022, while butter stocks of 199.53 million pounds were down 16.765 million pounds.

Those decreases can be tied to demand, with U.S. cheese and butter production up from 2022 to 2023.

The USDA’s next round of annual supply and demand estimates is out March 8^th.