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Thread started 01/25/13 1:51pm

babynoz

Just to put your mind at ease...

The rumored Super Bowl chicken wing shortage is not real, whew

http://www.usnews.com/new...print.html


No, There's No Super Bowl Chicken Wing Shortage
Economics 101 explains why worries about meat shortages are almost always overblown

By Danielle Kurtzleben
January 25, 2013
Chicken wings, ribs, and shrimp

Over Super Bowl weekend Americans are expected to consumer 1.23 billion wings--chopped off half as many chickens.

Don't cancel your Super Bowl plans at Buffalo Wild Wings. Don't raid the grocer's poultry section.

No, there's no chicken wing shortage. Everybody, calm down.

A rash of news stories has spread worry about a looming wing shortage, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. The National Chicken Council, a D.C.-based trade group, sent out a press release this week telling that chicken companies produced one percent fewer birds last year due to last summer's drought, which cut into corn production, raising prices on chicken feed. And lest we all forget, the council helpfully explains that chicken anatomy is a limiting factor in wing production.

"A chicken has two wings, and chicken companies are not able to produce wings without the rest of the chicken," says the NCC's press release.

Meanwhile, Americans will continue to eat their fill, consuming an estimated 1.23 billion wings on Super Bowl weekend.

But basic economics dictates that a shortage just won't happen (and, in fact, the council itself insists that there's no need to worry about a shortage in its press release). The reason is simple supply and demand.

"This is going back to economics 101," says Tim Petry, a livestock economist at North Dakota State University. "Surpluses and shortages do not exist if the price system is working. In other words, if we have less, the price goes up to ration the amount that's available to consumers."

So while consumers will be able to get their hands on wings, they may have to pay a bit more. Petry points out that wing prices are higher than they were last year. Currently, wholesale prices are around $2.10 per pound, he says, up from around $1.85 in early 2012. Prices also tend to go up in January of every year, with football being the primary reason.

It's also worth mentioning that chicken wing freak-outs have happened plenty of times before. The nation fretted before the Super Bowl in 2009 that a shortage was going to ruin parties everywhere. In late 2009, USA Today reported on a wing shortage, then did so again in March 2010.

It's not just wings that induce this kind of panic. When a U.K. trade group predicted a bacon shortage last year, the Internet exploded. But bacon remained (and still remains) in grocery stores, well-stocked as always.

Be it bacon or broilers, these types of panics are almost always overblown, says one expert.

"Any time when you see meat products pull back on production, you tend to get these waves of stories: 'Oh, we're going to run out,'" says Chad Hart, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University. "No, we won't, but you will pay more for it."

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
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Reply #1 posted 01/25/13 2:40pm

chocolate1

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lol

I heard that report this morning...

I was just in the supermarket, and almost went into "panic mode" and filled up my cart.
But I got past it. whew


"Love Hurts.
Your lies, they cut me.
Now your words don't mean a thing.
I don't give a damn if you ever loved me..."

-Cher, "Woman's World"
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Reply #2 posted 01/25/13 3:49pm

babynoz

chocolate1 said:

lol

I heard that report this morning...

I was just in the supermarket, and almost went into "panic mode" and filled up my cart.
But I got past it. whew

It just tickled me to death when I heard it on the news. I'm making my signature curry chicken stew so you can imagine, lol

I guess all is well, except for the chickens, that is.

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
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Reply #3 posted 01/25/13 5:29pm

paintedlady

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But what about the bacon shortage..... do you have an update on the bacon shortage?!!

lol

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Reply #4 posted 01/25/13 5:39pm

Lammastide

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babynoz said:

The rumored Super Bowl chicken wing shortage is not real, whew

lol I had no idea of such a rumor.

Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.”
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Reply #5 posted 01/26/13 5:31am

babynoz

paintedlady said:

But what about the bacon shortage..... do you have an update on the bacon shortage?

lol

Bacon you say? omfg Here's the scoop on the swine!

http://www.latimes.com/bu...1787.story


Bacon, pork shortage 'now unavoidable,' industry group says


By Tiffany Hsu

September 24, 2012, 11:10 a.m.

Might want to get your fill of ham this year, because "a world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable," according to an industry trade group.

Blame the drought conditions that blazed through the corn and soybean crop this year. Less feed led to herds declining across the European Union “at a significant rate,” according to the National Pig Assn. in Britain.

And the trend “is being mirrored around the world,” according to a release (hat tip to the Financial Times).

In the second half of next year, the number of slaughtered pigs could fall 10%, doubling the price of European pork, according to the release.

The trade group urged supermarkets to pay pig farmers a fair price for the meat to help cover the drought-related losses.

In U.S. warehouses, pork supply soared to a record last month, rising 31% to 580.8 million pounds at the end of August from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The surge came as farmers scaled down their herds as feeding the animals became increasingly expensive.

In July, global food prices leaped 10% from the month before, according to the World Bank. Maize and wheat jumped 25% while soybeans rose 17%.












Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
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Reply #6 posted 01/26/13 5:34am

babynoz

Lammastide said:

babynoz said:

The rumored Super Bowl chicken wing shortage is not real, whew

lol I had no idea of such a rumor.

It was probably started by Hooters, lol A wing platter's gonna cost a few more bucks now.

Prince, in you I found a kindred spirit...Rest In Paradise.
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Reply #7 posted 01/26/13 6:28am

PurpleJedi

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whew

I can now cancel my plans of raiding the local Buffalo Wild Wings at gunpoint.

thumbs up!

By St. Boogar and all the saints at the backside door of Purgatory!
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Reply #8 posted 01/26/13 7:09am

uniden

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lol lol lol

be kind, be a friend, not a bully.
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Reply #9 posted 01/26/13 8:04am

UncleGrandpa

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Eat Emu!
Jeux Sans Frontiers
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Reply #10 posted 01/26/13 3:40pm

Shyra

chocolate1 said:

lol

I heard that report this morning...

I was just in the supermarket, and almost went into "panic mode" and filled up my cart.
But I got past it. whew

I just left Costco and they had a whole freezer full of all sorts of wings. I don't eat them regularly so I didn't buy any, but I figured this shortage business was bull just to get folk to go out and buy more.

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Reply #11 posted 01/31/13 12:24pm

paintedlady

avatar

babynoz said:

paintedlady said:

But what about the bacon shortage..... do you have an update on the bacon shortage?

lol

Bacon you say? omfg Here's the scoop on the swine!

http://www.latimes.com/bu...1787.story


Bacon, pork shortage 'now unavoidable,' industry group says


By Tiffany Hsu

September 24, 2012, 11:10 a.m.

Might want to get your fill of ham this year, because "a world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable," according to an industry trade group.

Blame the drought conditions that blazed through the corn and soybean crop this year. Less feed led to herds declining across the European Union “at a significant rate,” according to the National Pig Assn. in Britain.

And the trend “is being mirrored around the world,” according to a release (hat tip to the Financial Times).

In the second half of next year, the number of slaughtered pigs could fall 10%, doubling the price of European pork, according to the release.

The trade group urged supermarkets to pay pig farmers a fair price for the meat to help cover the drought-related losses.

In U.S. warehouses, pork supply soared to a record last month, rising 31% to 580.8 million pounds at the end of August from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The surge came as farmers scaled down their herds as feeding the animals became increasingly expensive.

In July, global food prices leaped 10% from the month before, according to the World Bank. Maize and wheat jumped 25% while soybeans rose 17%.












bawl

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