The combined inventory of red meat and poultry in cold storage at the end of January was 2.374 billion pounds, that’s 102.4 percent of a year earlier and more significantly, 106 percent of the five-year average. Beef was 96 percent of a year ago.   The build-up came from pork and broilers. Pork in cold storage at the end of January was 625.188 million pounds, or 111 percent of last year and was just short of the monthly record set in 2016. Stocks were 108 percent of the five-year average. Pork inventory in cold storage was higher than year-ago levels for six months of 2019 – including all of the last quarter. Chicken inventories did set a record; the amount of chicken in cold storage was 957.492 million poun...

TAGS – Livestock, China, North America