News

Red meat, poultry in cold storage down on year

The USDA’s cold storage numbers reflect solid demand for beef, pork, and chicken.

U.S. red meat stocks totaled 882.648 million pounds at the end of July, 3% less than a year ago. That included declines of 1% for beef and 4% for pork, at 407.127 million and 450.704 million pounds, respectively, even with July red meat production up on the year.

Poultry in cold storage fell 5% to 1.22 billion pounds on a 10% drop in chicken to 787.091 million pounds against a 5% rise for turkey at 460.678 million pounds, roughly in-line with the USDA’s July poultry production trends.

The USDA’s next set of red meat and poultry supply and demand estimates is out September 12^th.