Things to Consider…. The latest US Cold Storage numbers reported pork stocks at 470.9 million pounds for June, down 11.5m pounds from May and 15.9m pounds under year-ago levels. Notably, May's cold storage was revised +0.1% higher from 481.9m pounds up to 482.5m pounds.
Many pork categories recorded decreased quantities from the previous month - most notably spare-ribs and bellies which were both down seasonally. Spare-ribs dropped 12.9m pounds for June and is a modest 815 thousand pounds over last year, while belly stocks fell 11.4m pounds from May quantities and are 9.4m pounds under last year. Unclassified pork fell 1.6m pounds from previously reported and is 3.5m pounds under a year earlier, while total loins overall fell 1.4m pounds on the month with both varieties down less than 5% from May and current loin supplies are 1.8m pounds under last year. Trimmings and butts also recorded notable declines, each generally down around 900 thousand pounds, with trimmings 4.8m pounds under a year earlier and butts up 6.2m pounds compared to last year.
Tempering the lower quantities of pork across most categories were another significant seasonal rise in hams supplies. Total hams overall in cold storage rose 16.9m pounds from May stocks, with the bone-in variety up especially more than the boneless variety, while current supplies overall are 10.6m pounds under a year earlier. The category accounting for Other pork climbed 470 thousand pounds on the month and is 4.4m pounds over a year earlier, while bone-in picnics were up 234 thousand pounds for June and 2.2m pounds under last year, and variety meats were nearly unchanged from the previous month and 5.1m pounds over June 2023.
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