Summary
Will record chicken wing prices help boost chicken breast prices and producer margins?
Analysis
Boneless skinless chicken breast prices typically trade well above the chicken wing market. The chief reasons are pretty simple. The meat yield on a boneless skinless chicken breast is much higher than on a chicken wing. Additionally, most chicken consumers in the US prefer the white meat of a chicken. As of late though, the chicken wing market has traded at or above the boneless skinless breast market due to production cutbacks. In the past when chicken output has slowed, chicken wing prices have typically reacted higher faster than the other chicken markets. We experienced record high wing prices earlier this year. History tells us that the wing market may be the canary in the coal mine telling us of sharply higher pending chicken breast prices. And higher chicken breast prices are typically a good sign for chicken producer profitability.
