Pork supply up 6.7% from 2011; beef supply at record high
Pork stockpiles in the U.S. stood at 612.7 million pounds, which was 6.7 percent higher on March 31 than the previous year, reports Bloomberg News. Warehouses held 507.9 million pounds of beef, a 14 percent increase over last year and a record high. According to the USDA, the previous high for beef stockpiles was set in 1977.
U.S. commercial pork output in the three months through March 31 totaled 5.858 billion pounds, up 2.4 percent from 2011, government data show. Wholesale pork prices, a gauge of demand, fell 5.8 percent in March, the sixth straight monthly decline, according to the USDA.