U.S. chicken companies are running production at a high rate right now, sparking a glut of product on the market and sending prices for products like breast meat to record lows.
Yahoo Finance says despite that, the industry might see a bright 2020 ahead. That’s thanks in part to the chicken sandwich craze that seems to be sweeping America’s fast-food restaurants.
Joe Sanderson Jr. is CEO of Sanderson Farms, Incorporated. He says the “sandwich wars” among fast-food chains could end up being an unofficial “bailout” that the oversupplied U.S. poultry industry needs. As an example, Popeyes quickly ran out of its new chicken sandwiches when they were first launched nationwide last August. Even though the overall poultry industry faces a glut, supplies of the smaller chickens, between four and five pounds, is running short.
Poultry buyers are turning to processors like Sanderson Farms to take larger portions and cut them down to sandwich size. U.S. chicken farmers continue to produce more meat. Egg sets and chick placements are trending four percent higher than last year.
The USDA the poultry industry set to produce a record 45.3 billion pounds of broiler meat this year.
