News

Red meat, poultry stocks down on year

The USDA’s cold storage report shows diverging demand for different proteins.

Beef supplies at the end of September were 435.342 million pounds, down 4% on the year following a 2% decline in monthly commercial beef production.

Pork came out at 466.41 million pounds, up slightly, after a 3% year to year decrease in monthly production. That pork total did include a big drop in bellies thanks to strong demand for bacon, with the biggest increase in bone-in hams ahead of the holidays.

Overall, red meat in cold storage was 4% below a year ago at 930.356 million pounds.

Both chicken and turkey in cold storage fell by 17% to 735.544 million and 413.698 million pounds, respectively, pulling all poultry stocks 17% below last year’s levels to 1.154 billion pounds. The turkey totaled had record monthly lows for whole hens, breasts, mechanically deboned meat, and unclassified turkey.

The USDA’s next set of supply, demand, and production numbers is out November 9^th.