Beef stocks in frozen storage on Dec. 31 totaled 438.123 million lbs., which was around 13.3 million lbs. less than the average trade guess of 451.4 million pounds. Beef stocks declined 12.6 million lbs. from November and came in 27.6 million lbs. less than December 2012. The drawdown in beef stocks came amid tight market-ready cattle supplies, but also suggests demand to close out last year wasn’t hurt by rising beef prices.
Pork stocks at the end of December totaled 557.130 million lbs., which was around 8.9 million lbs. more than anticipated. Pork stocks rose 10.9 million lbs. from November and 5.6 million lbs. from year-ago. Record kill weights created more product.
Total poultry stocks came in at 913.665 million lbs., which was down 32.4 million lbs. from November and 61.6 million lbs. less than year-ago. Given record beef prices, demand for poultry appears to be on the rise.
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