Oh no! There could be a huge health crisis on our hands. The hearts of all Super Bowl fans will be broken if they can't get their fingers on some chicken wings for the big day.
Humor aside, the National Chicken Council released a report that said the demand for wings this year is at “an all-time high” due to decreased wing production caused by the high cost of corn and feed prices. Wings are currently the highest priced portion of a chicken and cost $2.11 a pound in the Northeast, up 12 percent from last year.
The council lowered the projected number of wings to be eaten during Super Bowl weekend to 1.23 billion wings, which is 12.3 million less than last 2012.
Bill Roenigk, chief economist and market analyst at the National Chicken Council said in a release, “Chicken companies produced about 1 percent fewer birds last year, due in large part to record high corn and feed prices. Corn makes up more than two-thirds of chicken feed and corn prices hit an all-time high in 2012, due to two reasons: last summer’s drought and pressure from a federal government requirement that mandates 40 percent of our corn crop be turned into fuel in the form of ethanol. Simply put, less corn equals higher feed costs, which means fewer birds produced.”
After Thanksgiving, Super Bowl weekend is the biggest eating day of the year, and chicken wings are most popular.
If you plan on wings for the big game, you better get out and stock up now.
For more on the 2013 Chicken Wing Report, click here.
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