Pork stockpiles in the U.S. rose 16 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, the government said, as production increased and higher prices curbed demand.
Warehouses held 453.9 million pounds of the meat on July 31, up from 391.2 million a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Inventories fell 8.3 percent from the end of June. On Aug. 8, wholesale pork reached $1.1019 a pound, the highest since at least October 1997, USDA data show. High prices pushed shoppers toward cheaper meats, said Dan Vaught, the owner of Vaught Futures Insights in Altus, Arkansas.
“We’ve seen some production increases earlier this year,” Vaught said in a telephone interview before the report. There has also been some “carryover” from earlier jumps in inventories, he said.
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