Higher Food Prices Are Fueling Elevated Chicken Prices In June 2021, for example, the Broiler Chicken Margin Monitor showed the monthly average US margin at 19 cents per pound of ready-to-cook chicken, 10 cents higher than the 10-year average.ģ. Our Broiler Chicken Margin Monitor provides users with a comprehensive view of industry profitability and the likelihood of future changes in broiler chicken prices and supplies, showing the direction of prices up to 19 months in advance of price movements. Poultry prices were affected for years.Īs recently as November, when broiler chicken margins were 4 cents per pound above their 10-year average, broiler chicken margins were pointing to a 10,000-tonne-a-month increase in production that would have led to the beginning of a decline in chicken prices this year, according to Gro’s Broiler Chicken Margin Monitor. Some 50 million chickens and turkeys were destroyed to stop the spread of the HPAI virus in the last major outbreak of 2014-15, as shown by the spike in monthly death totals in this chart. In the last major US bird flu outbreak, which occurred between December 2014 and June 2015, prices of some domestically oriented broiler cuts shot up within six weeks of the first discovery.

A further acceleration of HPAI case counts and depopulation totals in the coming weeks could cause domestic chicken prices to jump.įor now, US wholesale chicken prices reflect only a small bird flu premium. Go to our poultry market resources page to see how Gro can help your team navigating fluctuating chicken supply and prices.Īhead of the summer grilling season, here are the major forces that will be driving year-over-year poultry price changes.Ī strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), first reported in the US on February 8, has now been reported at commercial poultry farms in eight US states and affected nearly 8 million chickens and turkeys. But elevated food prices worldwide are now overwhelming the influence of last year’s high margins. Usually, when chicken producers’ margins are strong, chicken buyers and broader market participants can expect prices to begin to decline about six months later. In 2021, broiler chicken prices rose 38% over the previous year, and producers’ margins soared. Wholesale chicken breast prices are at $2.70 a pound, their highest level since at least 2000, when Gro’s records began.

Wholesale chicken prices