The Mintec price for US chicken fell 13.1% month-on-month (m-o-m) to USD 1.3/lbs in mid-August 2022 due to increasing cold-storage stocks in the country. US broiler meat in cold storage climbed by 23.2 million pounds from May to the end of June to reach 736.4 million pounds, 5.2% higher compared to same period in 2021, exerting downward pressure on US chicken prices. The largest contributors to this increase in inventory were breast meat (+9.1 million pounds), wings (+10.4 million pounds), and other parts/cuts (+13.2 million pounds). In June, stocks of chicken wings in cold storage increased for the second consecutive month and were at their highest since 2018. Also, US chicken prices and the dollar have remained strong in recent months, and the outlook for exports to price-sensitive markets is not favourable for the remainder of 2022.
Similarly, US egg prices reached USc. 15/egg, down 15.8% m-o-m on 10th August on the back of larger y-o-y layer hen inventories in July 2022. On 1st July, inventory reached 299.6 million layers, which represented a relatively small uptick in inventory but marked the first m-o-m increase since the beginning of the year. Moreover, the lack of Avian Influenza (AI) detections in egg-layer facilities since early June, and the gradual building back of the flocks lost earlier in the outbreak should also support larger inventories in the rest of 2022.