Last Friday, the USDA released the Cold Storage report for the stockpiles at the end of September. The total amount of red meat in frozen storage this year was 930.4 million pounds, down 3.9 percent (38.2 million pounds) from the previous year. From a year ago, total poultry production dropped 17.2 percent (240.6 million pounds) to fewer than 1.2 billion pounds.
The total amount of pork in cold storage grew by 0.2% to 466.4 million pounds. Even so, September pork production is still much below the five-year average of roughly 600 million pounds. September saw a 47.5 percent drop in pork bellies to 13.0 million pounds, significantly below normal levels.
The drop in total poultry was fueled by a 16.6% drop in chicken stocks, which fell to 712.8 million pounds. Breast meat supplies were reported at 159.3 million pounds. down 27.0%. Wings increased 26.1%to 64.8 million pounds.
