News

Red meat, chicken supplies up on year

Red meat in cold storage at the end of March 2020 was above the previous year’s levels because of increased production levels and slowdowns in demand. Beef came out at 502.424 million pounds, up 11% on the year including a monthly high for boneless beef, while pork in cold storage was 621.933 million pounds, a year to year rise of 2%, with the red meat total of 1.168 billion pounds, a jump of 7%.

Chicken in cold storage hit a monthly record, also because of high production levels and slower demand. Chicken was reported 921.422 million pounds, 6% higher than last year with record levels of breasts and breast meat, legs, thigh meat, and paws and feet, while turkey was pegged at 389.116 million pounds, a decrease of 17%, leaving the poultry total at 1.314 billion pounds, an overall decline of 2%.

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