On Friday, July 20 the USDA reported the US Cattle inventory was down 2% as of July 1, 2012. All cattle and calves totaled 97.8 million, which was below the July 1, 2011 number of 100 million. This is the lowest number since the series began.
June beef production was at 2.25 billion pounds in June, 5% below last year. June cattle slaughter totaled 2.87 million head, 8% below June 2011.
Total red meat supplies in cold storage were down 6% from the previous month, but up 9% from last year.
Cattle on Feed here in the US totaled 10.7 million head on July 1, 2012. This was 3% above July 1, 2011.
To see my market views daily you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TrendsinFutures