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Subscribe to RSSIt's the hit of most Super Bowl parties, but last summer's drought caused farmers around the country to slow chicken production, and that's now hitting chicken wing fans in the wallet. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.
Last summer’s drought has come home to roost in the price you’ll be paying for those Super Bowl party chicken wings.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that chicken prices were up 6 percent in December, versus a year earlier. That's more than triple how much overall food prices have risen over the same time.
Food economists had been warning that the price of foods such as meats and dairy would likely rise because of the summer’s severe drought.
In the case of poultry, the drought led to a rise in prices for the grains that are typically used to feed animals such as chickens and turkeys. That, in turn, has pushed up the price of the chickens.
There are other factors that also are making chicken wings in particular more expensive this year, said Ryan Koory, an economist with IHS Global Insights who specializes in agriculture.
Last year, Koory said there was a glut in supply for chickens that led some farmers to decrease the number of chickens they produced. That in turn started to push prices up.
In addition, he said, in the past year and a half or so consumers have increasingly been turning to cheaper types of chicken, such as dark meat and wings, over pricier parts of the chicken such as chicken breasts.
All that will likely translate into higher prices when you go to buy your chicken wings for next Sunday's matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.
The National Chicken Council also said the rise in corn prices resulted in slightly fewer chickens being produced. The trade group is expecting 1.23 billion chicken wings to be consumed on Super Bowl weekend, a 1 percent decline from last year, because of the lower supply.
Despite the higher prices, Koory said chicken remains a better deal than other protein options.
“It’s still the cheapest meat, in comparison to a pork or beef,” Koory said.
Chicken wing lovers who are on a budget could have something to look forward to next year. If the weather cooperates and farmers don’t have to deal with a drought this summer, Koory said chicken prices should start to go down toward the end of 2013.
That means your chicken wings could be cheaper when you host that Super Bowl Sunday party in 2014.
Related: Fingerlickin' good! Best chicken wings in America
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In addition, he said, in the past year and a half or so consumers have increasingly been turning to cheaper dark meat, such as chicken wings, over pricier white meat such as chicken breasts.
Chicken wings are actually white meat. The leg and thigh are darker meats.
Actually horse,if you could buy it, would be cheaper but I don't know the color or it.
This price rise which is blamed on last summer's drought is nonsense. Unlike cattle, chickens are generally slaughtered for their meat, depending on the breed anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks after hatching. Any shortages could be compensated for in a short time.
But why raise more chickens when they can get higher prices by producing less of them.
I would rather have the Breast!!! Figures that they would go up they want to over price the wings.Like anything elese when a event comes around they raise Prices.. Just like the holiday sales before chirstmas...
The market needs just about "ANY" kind of excuse to increase prices on "ANYTHING". In this case, I am glad I am a vegetarian.
So are we tontosh, means more meat for us :-) Don't get me wrong, I love vegetarians, dated one, but just saying less demand = more availability.
Turkey fries are still cheap!
Chicken wing prices ($3.99/lb - 1/26/13) in our area now consistently exceed the price of boneless, skinless chicken breast ($3.29/lb - 1/26/13). That's not a sale price, either. We've switched to turkey wings ($1.99/lb - 1/26/13). Only problem is consistent supply. But, they taste exactly the same with Frank's Red Hot poured over them. My kids call them 'dinosaur' wings.
I've never been sure if Buffalo Wings are from large chicks or a small breed. If they're from immature chickens...you would expect the price to be lower than regular chicken bits due to the savings on less feed, etc.
Almost sounds like they're a commodity.
Never a fan of chicken wings. But, in nursing school the teacher did refer to them as Cancer wings and being the worst part of the chicken for you to eat...
Um ribs with barbeque sauce? MUCH better!
@BillyBob-7141987,
"My kids call them 'dinosaur' wings."
My little brothers call them Pterodactyl wings
Hasn't Michelle Obama banned these?
Your thinking of the midget troll Mayor of NY Bloomberg. He banned big sodas and a list of other trivial stuff on his liberal %$# agenda.......(As long as it's Kosher darling).
No one ever said chicken was a bad thing. It is a matter of how you cook it that makes it good for you or bad for you! Geesh!!!
@Julieann Fire... huh huh.. fire
Hey, IXLR8, don't go throwing Bloomberg into our camp. Remember, he started out as mayor as a Republican. He's now officially an Independent, and they can keep him, whoever 'they' are these days!
Pork and beef have been steadily tossed out by supermarkets cause the prices are so high. People are just not buying it anymore.
I wonder where you live we have plenty of Beef and pork which we buy where we live,, And the deal of eat healthy stops some people from eating red meat...not the price and Pork is a white meat!!!
We are eating all the beef and pork we are producing. We are producing less due to a smaller cow herd and higher corn prices due to the draught.
This particular war is climate change/global warming, which caused the extreme weather, likely including last summer's warmer weather/drought/record number of high temperatures.
The best thing we could do is to acknowledge the Science, and move Forward to adapting to it.
We need to predict better, whether it is Sandy in NY/NJ, Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico, or drought in the central Midwest.
The brilliance of Free Market Supply Side.
"Chicken wing prices up ahead of Super Bowl"
Yup, gas prices go up in the summer because more people travel.
Gas prices up in winter due to required additives.
Electric bills up in summer due to AC usage.
Electric bills up in winter due to heat usage.
Air fares up around holidays due to more travelers.
Food prices go up due to perceived shortages.
Water prices go up due to infrastructure repairs that are perpetual.
The list goes on and on and on and the and the minions continue to march to the drum beat of the master.
So no one is confused, can we assume you're referring to our Corporate masters?
If you're in an area conducive to it, hunting is by far the cheapest way to fill your freezer.
You can spend on $100-200 for tags, and come back with easily 100 lbs of meat after butchering it all up, provided you do it yourself. (Which, for the record, is not that hard.)
Hunting is fine, but I'll bet you aren't including all your expenses.
If everyone was out in the woods hunting every day the animals would never come out of hiding. Today's population far exceeds the wooded wildlife population and not everyone has a farm to house their own animals.
Common Sense is not so common anymore, is it? It's a shame!!
Julianne- Yes, but it is so much easier to make money! A richer salesman by the day. I love america.
Horse meat is good so is dog meat or Cat!!
What a chicken-sh*t thing to do. To all those responsible for higher prices, I say this: "May the fleas of a thousand camels descend upon you and pick your bones clean!"
"Why that's a capital idea, son! I'd say we boycott those hornswagglers and all have some crispy dog this year!"
- Foghorn Leghorn
"Lookit here son, I say son, did ya see that hawk after those hens? He scared 'em! That Rhode Island Red turned white. Then blue. Rhode Island. Red, white, and blue. That's a joke, son. A flag waver. You're built too low. The fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin' 'em and you keep missin' 'em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. I almost had a gag, son. Joke, that is."
~ Foghorn Leghorn - The Foghorn Leghorn, 1948
we need that GMO chicken that will have 4 wings or 6 wings instead of 2 per chicken. let's get it done
Like the chicken that was bred with three legs. It never worked out because it was too fast to catch. LOL.
Three Legged Chicken
We already have the hormone-pumped chicken, whose breast grows twice the size in half the time.
There is a restaurant nearby that is offering buffalo wings and buffalo legs for the same relatively low price. He is beating the nearby competition on fried or buffalo leg prices. His breast and thigh prices are about equal to the competition. Maybe because it is in central Georgia that he is getting good deals on chicken. Fish prices are way up though.
You can put buffalo sauce on a wing, a leg, a thigh or thigh meat, or breast meat. Cheapest chicken parts have been legs & thighs lately. Mostly the smartest thing is to think differently, than everyone else.
If u are stupid enough to believe this bs story, I have a bridge to sell you. How do you know this is the truth? You don't. American business bending us over again. Most inept americans not smart enough to even know or realize. Pathetic!
Well, Gary. Not sure why you are so negative. I know this business and the article is pretty well correct.
I never did understand the craving for chicken wings. It takes about 200 of them to make a meal and the feathers get caught between your teeth. I'll stick with a family size bag of Doritos and a jar of Pace picante sauce. Oh yeah, and a six pack of Barq's root beer to wash it down.
If you need to have chicken wings for the superbowl than just go to buffalo wild wings and get them. The price will still be the same as any other day, without the markup that you will now pay if you buy them in the grocery stores. Problem Solved!!!
Nuttin better that a good wing.
Party hosts are crying "fowl".
Star Trek chicken joke
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Spock: Fascinating, Captain, it seems driven by a beam of pure energy.
Bones: Dammit, I'm a doctor, not an ornithologist!
Uhura: Shall I open hailing frequencies so you can ask it, sir?
Chekov: Of course, you know chickens were originally domesticated by the famous Russian chickenologist, Vladimir Chickovsky, who in 1435....
Picard: There are four lights!
Troi: It was running...running away from...no, escaping...oh, Captain, it was fleeing from such -pain-!
Worf: I don't know. KLINGON chickens do NOT cross roads.
Kirk: You chicken bastard, you killed my son...YOU chicken BASTARD, you killed...my SON...you CHICKEN bastard....you killed my...son!
Data: The chicken, in observing that it was on the opposite side of the 20th century Terran paved roadway, was aware that its immediate goal should have been to traverse the distance without interception by any kind of combustion-propelled personal transport vehicle, but I am unclear as to why any kind of domesticated fowl should desire to perambulate upon a conveyance normally reserved for the usage of...yes, sir.
I went to a wing place and they wanted a buck a wing...I can eat like 20 of them. It would have cost me more to get some wings than a steak with a tater. Wings are a rip off. Never understood why that are way more per pound than legs. Chickens have two of each...go figure.
Years ago the special on wing night was 10 cent wings. Then it got to be 25 cents was a deal. Not really, in my book. People would rather eat a wing than a leg so they charge more for wings. Drummies are the best part of course and most expensive in some places. Overall, they are a big glob of fat and skin once they are fried and rolled in the sauce. Call me Mr. Obvious.
Hogs on the field...chickens in the stands....stand up...fall down...stand up...fall down...yeah it's half time already...
I think it's hilarious that chicken wing prices are going up so all the Super Bowl Gluttons have to suffer the consequences. Every meat price is going up. Maybe it's a hint that we should eat more vegetables and fruits. Oh, wait. Those prices are going up too. Well, I live out in the country, so maybe I should start raising chickens.
Just don't raise the 3 legged kind
Good news guys...chicken heads and chicken azz are a steal! Dagnabit, girl , start frying that chicken azz, the games about to start!
Superbowl is not why the prices are up. Almost all food and feed has risen. So, you're gonna pay more for things that eat the feed, like chickens, turkeys, hogs, etc. Then there was the drought. Then there was the printing of our money which devalued it. Then there is just overall greed. Prices tend to go up over time. Hardly ever do they drop over a long period of time. If they get really bad, go eat the neighbor's cat.
Folks must not live in California. I routinely see the price boneless chicken breasts at $6-7, double or more what it is any other place in the country I've lived. Thankfully I can shop at the Commissary where I have a choice of something other than overpriced, tough Foster Farms chicken.
Damn!
First Brisket, now lowly chicken wings.
Brisket was the cheapest beef you could buy till people learned how to cook it.
Wings were for crab bait.
Collard green futures are in my portfolio as of this minute.
With an option on watermelons futures too.
Chicken wings just don't seem to fill me up. Boeing 747 wings sound better!
Three That Don Wings:
1. Birds.
2. Paul McCartney's previous band.
3. The Super Bowl.
===============================
The boss-
Highlighted in hot sauce.
Don't like chicken wings, no meat on them.
Don't like chicken legs either, too bony.