USDA’s Cold Storage Report showed beef and pork stocks declined seasonally during May, though far less than average for the month. That suggests meat demand didn’t keep pace with production, which was up slightly from year-ago last month.
Beef stocks at the end of May totaled 423.7 million lbs., down 14.8 million lbs. from April, whereas the five-year average was a 30.4-million-lb. decline for the month. Frozen beef inventories dropped 2.0 million lbs. (0.5%) from year-ago and were 14.5 million lbs. (3.3%) below the five-year average.
Pork inventories totaled 481.9 million lbs., down 17.4 million lbs. from April. The five-year average was a 30.7-million-lb. drop in pork stocks during May. Pork stocks fell 49.9 million lbs. (9.4%) from last year and were 45.5 million lbs. (8.6%) below the five-year average.
Total poultry stocks rose 39.2 million lbs. during May but were 65.8 million lbs. less than year-ago. Chicken breast meat stocks increased 1.1 million lbs. from April to 209.5 million lbs., though that was still 17.2 million lbs. (7.6%) below last year’s record.