Cold Storage Report: Record end-of-February beef stocks

USDA’s Cold Storage Report showed beef stocks rose contra-seasonally during February and reached a record for the month. Pork stocks climbed more than normal last month.

Beef stocks totaled 532.5 million lbs. at the end of February, which was a record for the month and a 6.8-million-lb. increase from January, whereas stocks have declined an average of 23.0 million lbs. during the month the previous five years. Beef stocks were 20.0 million lbs. above last year and 43.9 million lbs. above the five-year average.

Pork stocks at 480.4 million lbs. increased 45.9 million lbs. from January, which was greater than the five-year-average gain of 35.0 million lbs. during the month. However, pork inventories were down 3.0 million lbs. from February 2021 and 104.8 million lbs. below the five-year average.

Total poultry stocks at 1.08 billion lbs. rose 63.0 million lbs. from January but were 12.1 million lbs. below last year