Market News & Headlines >> Pork Belly Stocks Remain Record Low

Monday afternoon’s monthly Cold Storage report from USDA again highlighted extremely strong bacon demand as it showed U.S. frozen pork belly stocks at the end of June at another record low going back to 1957.

Total frozen pork stocks of 563.0 million pounds as of June 30 were down 30.6 million or 5.2% from a month earlier and were 23.5 million pounds or 4.0% below a year earlier.  Stocks were the lowest in three years. 

June 30 frozen pork belly stocks came in at 22.3 million pounds, down 29.4% from 31.6 million at the end of May and down 64.5% from 62.9 million pounds a year earlier. Frozen ham stocks on the other hand rose to 179.1 million pounds from 144.0 million a month earlier and 166.5 million a year earlier. 

June 30 frozen beef stocks of 416.7 million pounds were up 5.2 million pounds or 1.3% from a month earlier, but were down 10.3% from the year-earlier level of 464.5 million pounds and were the smallest in three years.