July poultry production down 1%

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July poultry production down 1%

The USDA says July 2021 poultry production was 4.259 billion pounds, 1% less than July 2020. Most of that was chicken at 3.791 billion pounds, down slightly from a year ago, with turkey production at 457.909 million pounds, a decline of 9%. Year to date production is 29.5 billion pounds, 1% behind last year’s pace.

The chicken slaughter was 2% lower at 777.992 million head, cancelling out a 2% gain in the average live weight to 6.47 pounds per bird, while the turkey slaughter decreased 9% to 17.956 million head and the average live weight lost 1% at 31.96 pounds.

The USDA says that total poultry in cold storage at the end of July was 17% under last year, with chicken and turkey both down 16%, while the duck supply dropped 63%.

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