Chicken prices on the rise

CAMBRIDGE, MD - Chicken prices could rise 10 percent this summer.

That's according to James Perdue, chairman of the largest poultry company in the East, Perdue Farms Inc.

Perdue told a Maryland Economic Development Association meeting this week that chicken prices will rise because farmers are paying more for chicken feed. Corn is the main component of chicken feed, and Perdue says more than a third of the nation's corn is now going to produce ethanol.

Demand for ethanol has been blamed for higher food prices nationwide, because corn and other grains are a major component in meat and dairy production. Perdue told The (Baltimore) Examiner that chicken prices will likely go up 10 percent this summer and possibly more.