September Frozen Beef and Pork Stocks Down from Year-ago

USDA reports total red meat in the nation's freezers at the end of September stood at 1.149 billion lbs., up 4.5% from the previous month but down 4.6% from year-ago levels.

There were a total of 487.812 million lbs. of beef in the nation's freezers as of Sept. 30, down 31.210 million lbs. (6.0%) from year-ago levels but up 11.245 million lbs. (2.4%) from Aug. 31.

Frozen pork stocks climbed 40.614 million lbs. (7.1%) from the end of August to 616.312 million lbs., but this was still down 25.991 million lbs. (4.0%) from last year at this point. Pork belly stocks fell 16.6% from the end of September to 20.914 million lbs., which is an 8.9% increase from year-ago.

Total frozen poultry stocks as of Sept. 30 were up 1.0% from the end of August and 8.3% from year-ago levels at more than 1.395 billion pounds.