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Why chicken wings cost more this time of year

With the Super Bowl and March Madness around the corner, expect to pay more.

The chicken industry did quite well in 2014. That may be largely due to the high chicken prices and low production costs. But Ed Fryar, President of Ozark Mountain Poultry in Rogers, Arkansas, believes chicken prices will not continue to increase in 2015, except for the chicken wings.  

“As you move into the Super Bowl and into March Madness, that causes wing prices to jump up,” Fryar says.

Fryar says chicken breast has a strong market during the summer time and chicken feet are mostly exported to China.

“It’s hard to find a strong seasonal pattern in dark meat,” Fryar says. “We export a substantial amount of dark meat from the United States, and because of that any issue with Avian Influenza, any political situation which causes one of our major importers to come and announce a ban on U.S poultry exports to them, those things kind of come and go.”

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