The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent Cold Storage Report showed record reductions of beef and pork, which means demand for the products remains high. At the other end of the spectrum, chicken stocks remain historically high. A Meating Place Dot Com article says total beef in cold storage dropped 38 million pounds in March, the biggest drop in March since back in the 1970’s. The 40-million pound drop in boneless frozen beef also set a record for March. Pork also made some historic drops too. Bone-in ham stocks dropped by 21 million pounds, the biggest drop in those supplies in 20 years. Overall, frozen pork supplies were down 10 percent compared to March of 2016. Pork Belly stocks were actually up 27 percent from last month but still 68 percent lower than last year. Chicken stocks technically decreased three percent from last year, but Daily Livestock Report analyst Len Steiner says, “Those stocks are still high relative to historical norms, which will be a factor limiting industry production and expansion.” Turkey supplies were up 16 percent from March of last year, with the overall number of total frozen poultry supplies two percent higher than a year ago.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.
From: USDA
Cold Storage Report
March 2017 Highlights
Total natural cheese stocks in refrigerated warehouses on March 31, 2017 were
up 3 percent from the previous month and up 8 percent from March 31, 2016.
Butter stocks were up 1 percent from last month and up 12 percent from a year ago.
Total frozen poultry supplies on March 31, 2017 were up 2 percent from the previous month and up 2 percent from a year ago. Total stocks of chicken were down 3 percent from the previous month and down 3 percent from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up 13 percent from last month and up 16 percent from March 31, 2016.
Total frozen fruit stocks were down 9 percent from last month but up 24 percent from a year ago.
Total frozen vegetable stocks were down 6 percent from last month but up 8 percent from a year ago.
Total red meat supplies in freezers were down 5 percent from the previous month and down 7 percent from last year. Total pounds of beef in freezers were down 8 percent from the previous month and down 4 percent from last year. Frozen pork supplies were down 3 percent from the previous month and down 10 percent from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were up 27 percent from last month but down 68 percent from last year.
Read the full USDA Cold Storage report.
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