Why have Chicken Wing Prices Risen?
Chicken Wings have become more and more a staple in the American diet. Between traditional Buffalo and BBQ flavors to the rising star of Korean Chiken, there has been no better time to be a lover of chicken wings. However, wing prices have jumped a massive amount a pound of chicken wings cost. This is due to multiple of issues that the global supply chain us experiencing.
First off is the rising demand for chicken in recent years. More of America and the world are looking for cheaper, healthier meat options to replace pork or beef. This is evidenced in the recent explosions of different chicken sandwiches at almost all fast food restaurants in reaction to consumers changing preferences. So naturally farmers will lag behind the demand and wing prices will inflate.
Secondly, COVID-19 played a major role in disrupting the supply chain for poultry. Outbreaks at both farms and processing centers have crippled the labor needed to keep America in its wings. This has caused production to slow down for most growers. Farmers are also charging more per pound as they have to deal with increased costs of saftey during the pandemic. Basically, the world is in a temporary chicken supply crunch that will eventually recover.
Another problem is that Tyson, which controls around 60% of the US chicken supply changed to a new variety of rooster. This had unforeseen consequences as these new roosters refused to mate with the old variety of hens leading to a massive drop in the number of chicks hatched.
All of these issues helped create this price bubble that America is in right now. Generally, chicken wings cost around $1.50 per pound but in recent months that has pushed past $3.00 and into the $4.00 range in some locations. Hopefully, these issues will sort themselves out and wing prices will start to fall. In the mean time be prepared to pay high prices at local restaurants.
