Total meat and poultry in freezers on February 28 was 2.188 billion pounds, 5.7 per cent higher than last year and 2.6 per cent higher than last month. And in spite of apparently soft demand for both beef and pork, neither of those species was the culprit in the frozen meat/poultry stock increase. Data appear on page 3 of the link below.

That label would apply to the two poultry species with chicken inventories exceeding last year by 6.1 per cent and turkey stocks growing by 14.1 per cent versus 2012. Of the 118.15 million pound total increase in frozen meat and poultry inventories versus last year, chicken accounted for 36.5 million and turkey accounted for 49.4 million — a total of 85.14 million or 72 per cent of the year-on-year total increase. The amount of chicken in freezers at the end of February was down 3.2 per cent from January. Turkey inventories were up 10.8 per cent versus January. It was not a good month for poultry movement and there is more chicken on the way. These poultry supplies could get large indeed!

tocks of both pork and beef were higher at the end of February but not by much. Pork inventories grew 5 per cent during month and ended up at 637 million pounds, 2.3 per cent higher than last year. Ribs remain the big driver (along with “Other” pork) of the year-on-year increase. Let’s hope that warmer weather and barbecued rib features make a dent in this supply soon. Belly stocks grew during January but remain about one-third lower than one year ago.

eef stocks were 1.2 per cent higher than at the end of January and 4.1 per cent higher than last year. Per normal, the big driver is boneless beef inventories since that category accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the total.

Further Reading

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