US cold storage inventories for beef and chicken continued to spike well above normal levels in April, amid ongoing disruptions to food supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
US beef inventories for April 2020 were 13.9% higher than April 2019, and 6% above the 5-year average. Chicken inventories for the latest month were up 6.1% versus 2019, and up 13.5% from the 5-year average. Looking just at chicken breast and breast meat, these inventories jumped sharply by 33% year over year, and were up 37.3% versus the 5-year average.
On the other hand, pork inventories saw a slight 1.1% decline versus April 2019, and were also 3.5% lower than the 5-year average. Heightened exports in 2019 and early 2020 led to an overall drawdown in pork stocks.
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